I will warn first off that this recipe contains uncooked Tuna.  Ceviche is basically, for lack of a better description, pickled raw fish.  I personally a not weirded out by raw fish – sushi is one of my favorite foods – but nonetheless, if you are weirded out by raw fish, you may want to give this one a pass.  I would buy your fish on the same day you plan to make the ceviche.  Make sure you’re careful to use extremely fresh fish from a reliable fish source.  Also be very careful to handle the tuna properly – keep it refrigerated, wash your hands, and make sure your kitchen is clean! 

 I used tuna as I have plenty of experience eating it and working with it.  The recipe I found on the website for Every Day with Rachel Ray - and it really came out pretty darn awesome, if I don’t say so myself.  I made it as part of a fancy celebratory dinner we had and frankly it made me feel like I was at some kind of swanky restaurant.  I didn’t make may modifications to this one – first, I didn’t make nearly as much of it, as we were using this as an appetizer sized portion.  Also, I don’t particularly like coconut milk, so I omitted that entirely.  As that was the bulk of the sauce, I decided to leave the remaining ingredients in the original amounts so that I would have enough sauce to coat the fish.  The important part is the acidity, so make sure you don’t tone that down, as that’s the part that ‘pickles’ the ceviche. 

Tuna Ceviche

from Every Day with Rachel Ray

• 1/2 pound sushi-grade tuna, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/3 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, plus a few leaves for garnish
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
• 1/2 jalapeño, finely chopped
• 4 scallions, green part only, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• Salt

• Combine all ingredients (except for the garnish!) in a bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Tada!  You’ve made ceviche!  Enjoy.

I love tuna.  It’s one of my favorite restaurant picks when out for a dinner on the town – but I recently I was thinking I could not remember the last time I tried preparing it myself.  Partly, this is because recently I’ve started liking tuna rare, which seemed a bit intimidating as I’ve never really made any rare foods besides steak.  But, I did some research on rare tuna safety and figured – no time like the present to try it myself.  So, I picked up some tuna steaks at my local favorite seafood source.  The night we broke out this recipe, I had a simultaneous craving for mojitos and figured I would look for some variety of cuban flavor to add to the tuna.  I modified the recipe slightly – mostly, I swapped out the lemon juice for lime juice, because I wanted it to go well with my mojito!  It was incredible – obviously any rare food has some risks, but we lived on the edge – left ours rare and the tuna steak remained juicy and delicious.   The recipe has just enough bite without overwhelming the tuna - and the mojito was perfect for putting out the fire.

 

Cuban Lime Grilled Tuna Steak - adapted from foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

Mix together olive oil, salt, pepper, lime juice, garlic, onion and cumin.  Stir in about 3/4 of the cilantro (reserve the remainder for garnishing later) to the mix.  Place the tuna steaks into a glass baking dish, and coat both sides of each steak well with the marinade.  Marinate covered in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  Preheat grill to high heat.  Grill the tuna steaks for 4-5 minutes on each side – or more if you prefer well-done tuna.  Garnish with the remaining cilantro, and lime if you wish – and enjoy!