Sea Kitten Surprise
You may be wondering what a Sea Kitten is. PETA decided people should start calling fish “sea kittens” instead. Upon what authority, I do not know. You can read all about Sea Kittens on the PETA Website. I customized my own Sea Kitten, using their Flash Sea Kitten creator application, and named him Tasty.
Suffice it say that I enjoy myself a Kitten of the Sea from time to time, and whatever you want to call them I’ll still continue to eat them. This is a really simple dish, and actually requires no cooking. It’s perfect for a summer day, although I created it in the dead of winter–I’m in denial about the prevailing (sub-freezing) temperatures of late. If you’re looking for a side item, there’s really no arguing against how well Sea Kittens go with Hush Puppies.
Ingredients
2 tuna steaks, cubed
2 lemons
3 limes
2 tbsp roasted fire chilis, minced to a powder-thin pulp (not fire-roasted–roasted “fire” chilis)
2 tbsp roasted shallot, finely minced
2 tbsp pinot noir
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp fresh cilantro, minced
2 tsp olive oil
sugar snap peas
rice wine vinegar
bacon bits
smoked almonds, coarsely chopped
salt
pepper
You’re going to “cook” the fish in citrus. This takes 1-3 hour–mine was perfect in about and hour and a half. This is the ceviche method of cooking in acid, and there are a number of variations all over the world. The common elements are the acid and heat.
Juice 2 lemons and 2 limes into a medium bowl. Add tuna cubes, stir well, the cover with plastic wrap, place in the refrigerator or over ice and allow to sit for at least 1 hour. Next add wine, sugar, shallot, chilis, olive oil and cilantro. Salt and pepper to taste. This is ready to serve immediately but benefits from at least another half hour in the refrigerator once items have all been combined.
“Shock” sugar snap peas by adding to boiling water for < 1 minute to make them crisp and dial in a dark green color. You can easily do this by heating water in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, then tossing in your peas. Dump them into a collander immediately and rinse with cold water to arrest the cooking. Add pea pods to a mixing bowl. Combine juice from a lime, 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, and a healthy splash of salt (to taste) with the peas and stir liberally.
Serve the Tuna over a bed of snow pea pods, making sure to spoon a little of each sauce over their respective tuna/pea components. Garnish with a surefire PETA-pleaser–bacon bits! I made my own, but any real bacon bits will do. To top it all off, sprinkle with bits of smoked almonds. It’s a light and refreshing ensemble. Mmm…add tasty Sea Kitten to your diet today!
