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Tuna Ceviche

When you’re celebrating a cat’s birthday, like Clare is celebrating Kiri’s birthday this weekend, it is probably a good idea to put fish on the menu. I love my cats, but I’m not about to go out and purchase a big piece of sushi grade Ahi tuna for them. I bought this for human consumption, but in the spirit of Kiri’s birthday, I did give the scraps to my cats. With the rest of the tuna, I made a lovely ceviche, which is more than appropriate for human parties. It is incredibly easy, since it requires no actual cooking and can be prepared in advance.

Ceviche is a latin American dish where fish that is “cooked” with citric acid, lime juice in this case, which gives it a slightly firmer texture than raw seafood. Just about any kind of seafood can be used, from tuna to shrimp to scallops. In its simplest form, ceviche is just citrus and fish, but it is very versatile. I like to keep the latin flair and make mine with tomato, onion and avocado. If you really want to minimise the work, just purchase some high quality, fresh salsa and add that to the fish, along with the lime juice and oil.

Ceviche is a great appetiser or first course. Many restaurants, for reasons I’m not entirely certain of, serve ceviche in cocktail or martini glasses. I’m not one to go against tradition (not all the time, anyway), so I did the same here. Serve ceviche with tortilla chips or just hand your guests a fork.

Tuna Ceviche
¾ lb sushi grade Ahi tuna
¼ cup lime juice (2 limes)
zest, 1 lime
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup chopped fresh tomato
½ haas avocado, cubed
¼ cup fresh, prepared salsa

(if not using salsa, use 2tbsp each onions, tomatoes, cilantro and 1 tsp jalapeno peppers)
salt and pepper to taste

Cube the tuna and toss in a large bowl with all the other ingredients. Marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours before serving.
Garnish with lime and additional avocado.
Serves 4

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And in the spirit of Weekend Cat Blogging, you can see that Dusty looks content after his tuna scraps.

Since it was a party, I put out some catnip, too. Phoebe, as the younger and less responsible cat, might have had a bit too much.

For more cat photos, why don’t you check out Clare’s WCB roundup?

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14 Comments
  • Anne
    October 29, 2005

    Ooh Nic – love your cats! 🙂 Mine don’t really eat much fish though – one is allergic to all seafood, and it’s not very nutritious for the rest, but it’s fine as an occasional treat. This sounds like it’d be real good for ME though! 🙂

  • linda
    October 29, 2005

    Great Pictures. I like the deranged catnip photo.

  • Rosa's Yummy Yums
    October 29, 2005

    Cute pictures!

  • Clare Eats
    October 29, 2005

    YUMMY!
    I love fish, seafood is definately my favourite.
    Thanks so much for coming to my party!

    Hugs xx
    Kiri

  • tfp
    October 30, 2005

    Hehehe, Phoebe on the scratching post made me laugh. Billy Lee does the opposite sometimes, laying on her back to leisurely sharpen her claws. Perhaps I should get some catnip!

  • ZaZa
    October 30, 2005

    Does Dusty have a tail? He looks remarkably like my LuLu, who has only a knob.

  • boo_licious
    October 30, 2005

    Nic, the kitties are adorable and I love how Phoebe has this “high” look abt her after taking too much catnip.

  • Nic
    October 30, 2005

    Anne – I heard that a lot of cats are allergic to seafood. Dusty, fortunatly for him, isn’t. He’ll wolf down a scrap in half a second. He’s chubby, but you’d think I don’t feed him with the way he eats.

    Linda – Thanks! Phoebe’s hilarious to watch when the catnip goes out.

    Rosa – Thanks.

    Clare and Kiri – Thanks for inviting us to your party, guys!

    tpf – That’s so funny! You should try the catnip and see how she reacts.

    Zaza – Yeah, he does have a tail. But he’s a mixed breed (a mutt), so maybe he has a similar breed in his genes!

    boo – She gets very possessive of her catnip!

  • J
    October 30, 2005

    hi nic, what a gorgeous looking ceviche…and some very very lucky (not to mention adorable) kitties they are too…

  • Jessica
    October 30, 2005

    Hey, thanks for the tip on the Ibarra. I stuck in a hand blender, and as a bonus, the top got all frothy. Hmm, maybe I should invest in a molillo. I also added a tablespoon of cocoa because it was too sweet for my tastes.

  • Nic
    October 30, 2005

    J – What a compliment! Thanks!

    Jessica – I know what you mean, it’s not particularly dark. I think adding the cocoa is a great idea.

  • keiko
    October 31, 2005

    Hi Nic – your kitties are so adorable, my cat loves fish (and rice crackers) too. I make tuna ceviche quite often – I never thought about it when I was in Japan where you can get super fresh ones – but I quite like them now 🙂

  • Eric
    November 1, 2005

    Hi! I’ve been following your blog for some time now, thanks to Lori.

    In the Philippines, ‘cooking’ the tuna in vinegar is called kilawin, and it makes a great compliment to any meal. 😀

  • Nic
    November 1, 2005

    Thanks for the info, Eric. You learn something new every day!

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