This has been a very hot and humid week in southern Minnesota. And I spent altogether too much of it making vast amounts of tomato sauce to freeze for the winter (eating seasonally is for people in more temperate climes). So when the weekend rolled around the last thing I wanted to do was to be standing over a stove. Therefore our lunch today was both raw and cold. Last night I made gazpacho from Rohan Daft’s criminally under-appreciated Menu Del Dia and put it into the fridge and this afternoon I improvized a batch of tuna ceviche. I am confident that all those who had absolutely no interest in my last recipe involving raw tuna will be all over this one. Once again, I used frozen ahi tuna purchased from Costco. Some of my friends are a little alarmed by my eating this tuna raw, but I live on the edge*.

Ingredients

• Ahi tuna, 1 lb, sliced and either diced or cut into thick strips
• Tomato, 1/2 cup, diced
• 1 small cucumber, seeded and diced
• 1 shishito or other mild pepper, seeded and minced
• The juice of 3 regulation-sized limes
• 2 Haas avocados, diced
• 1/2 a small red onion, diced
• Sea salt
• Cilantro, 2 tblpsns

Preparation

1. Put everything but the avocado and cilantro in a glass or ceramic bowl and mix gently but thoroughly.
2. Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.
3. Add the avocado and cilantro, turn gently with a large spoon to mix and serve.

Notes

1. I cut the tuna into strips rather than dice it. This was for no particular reason.
2. Some recipes will tell you to chill for much longer. Keep in mind that the longer you go, the more the lime juice will “cook” the tuna. I pulled it at 15 minutes.
3. You could serve it with tortilla chips or, if you’re greedy like us, just eat it out the bowl with spoons.

This picture was taken of the leftovers, which I ate for dinner. As you can see, the extra hours of sitting with the lime juice has rendered the tuna completely opaque.

*I’m quite confident that this tuna is flash-frozen at sea at ultra-low temperatures. It’s not, as a result, as beautiful to look at raw as sashimi-grade tuna but I doubt there’s any risk involved.