I'll Sleep When I Can't Ceviche

Will?! Will?!! Is that you Will?

No. It's me, raw seafood. The fuck's yer prollem?

I've got to tell you, if you like the sushi, if you've had ceviche, you ought to make it for yourself. Hell, I just did and I will tell you, I feel like more of a... you thought I'd say "man" but no, I feel like more of a damn human being for doing what I did.

I'm just startin this thing and I've gotta give writing this stuff a chance, however the ideal is that I'll be posting photos of my plated dishes for you to drool and fall down over. Mainly because I haven't done any culinary schooling and I probably won't be doing so any time soon.

I watch movies, avoid television, except for the occasional cooking show or educational channel, and I like to cook and drink. Sometimes some good shit comes of it.

TONIGHT'S MENU:

Entree
Wild Tuna, Shrimp and Bay Scallop Ceviche over a Butter Lettuce, Fruit Salad with a side of Guacamole. Specifically coupled with a Potato Vodka White Russian and a touch of Cinnamon.

Dessert
Breaded, Fried Bananas under Calvados sauce with Nutmeg and Cinnamon. Coupled with a Chilean Merlot.

So granted, as usual it was mostly experimentation, however I have to say it came out amazingly well. The shrimp and bay scallop were so buttery I was reminded of them again with the Calvados sauce. I didn't fuck it up at all having too much citrus in the ceviche brew and the pears went fabulously with the orange bell peppers I happened to find at the store tonight. Truly an amazing mix of luck of craving, I've got to tell someone how to throw this easy thing together.

First off, we'll start with the entree. Get yourself:

Ceviche
.5 lb, Wild Tuna, 1 cm. cubed
.25 lb, Raw shrimp, de-veined, chopped to match size of scallops
.25 lb, Bay Scallop or local small scallop
Juice of 3 Limes and 1 Lemon
5 sprigs of fresh Thyme
Olive Oil
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
Sesame Seeds
(This will do about 3-4 people)

Butter Lettuce and Fruit Salad, Guacamole side
1 head Butter Lettuce, 4 leaves reserved, rest chopped
1 firm Pear (I don't care what kind), chopped fine
1 medium Cucumber, chopped fine
1 orange Bell Pepper, chopped fine
1 handfull chopped Basil
2 Avocado, mashed
Juice of .5 lemon
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
(This will also do about 3-4 people)

White Russian
1 part Kahluah
2 part Vodka (I used Potato Vodka)
3 part Milk (Some use .5 and .5, I use 1% milk. Do what you want.)
Ice
Cinnamon

First have 3 White Russians, no Cinnamon, then, combine fish in a bowl with Fruit Juice, Olive oil, Thyme, Salt and Pepper. Let it sit for about 40 minutes in the fridge. Go by every now and then while sipping White Russian and give it a bit of a stir. You'll see the citrus from the fruit 'cooking' the meat a little bit. This is good.

While all of that is going on, combine chopped Butter Lettuce, Pear, Pepper, Basil in another bowl and toss with the Lemon Juice. The juice will keep the Pear from browining and will help the lettuce from wilting too quickly.

Hang out for a while and then take your reserved 4 leaves of the lettuce and put them on the edge of your plate(s). 1 per. I have all 4 on one plate doing something crazy but you don't need that much.

When you're ready to serve, scrape out the avocados in a third bowl and mash with salt and pepper. Keep it simple because you don't want to kill the flavor of the Fruit and you want the smooth texture of it mashed. Don't over mash it. Leave some chunks in there.

Next put a generous amount of the Salad down on the plates so that it holds up the whole Butter Lettuce leaf straight up into the air. Give the plate some dimension.

Spoon the Ceviche (fish mixture) over the salad in a pile. This will make a bit of a fuzzy to sharp contrast on the plate. The colors of the pepper against the light and dark greens is also cool. Spoon on some marinade as dressing. Add a dollop of the Guacamole somewhere there on the side so that one can take as much as they wish as they're eating the dish. Sprinkle the Ceviche with a tiny bit of the Sesame Seeds.

Serve with ice cold White Russian with a tiny sprinkle of Cinnamon for the smell. It's really an interesting add that makes the dish quite fun.

For dessert:

4 ripe Bananas
Flour
2 Eggs
.25 cup Milk
Unseasoned Bread Crumbs
.5 cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup Calvados
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Confectioners (Powdered) Sugar
Vegetable Oil
4 tbsp Butter

Take some brown (ripe) bananas that you don't know what to do with. Dredge quarters of each banana in Flour, Beaten Eggs with a little Milk, and un-seasoned bread crumbs in that order. Make sure you get a good coat in each. Fry them in veggie oil on pretty high until golden on all sides. Do this in batches for more than 1-2 people. It's ok, the outside will stay crispy if you hurry.

For the sauce, put the Granulated sugar in a shallow pan and heat on medium. Get it melting but be sure to keep moving it about so that it doesn't burn. As soon as it starts to seem like it's sticking to the pan be super careful and be sure to get the rest of the sugar doing the same thing along with the excitable bunch that started early. Pour in the Calvados and add the butter and just a pinch or 3 of some Nutmeg. Let it go crazy for a just a hot second and then turn down the heat some. Let it simmer while you're frying the bananas... in batches, remember.

Next take a bowl and mix some confectioner's suger with a healthy dose of Cinnamon and some more Nutmeg. Go easy on the Nutmeg though because you've already put some in the sauce. Mix those dry ingredients up well and keep on keepin' on with the banana frying and making sure the Calvados isn't getting too thick or burning to the pan.

The Calvados sauce will reduce a little bit more than a half and that's when you're about all set to serve.

To serve, take 4 quarter Bananas and pile them as high in whatever crazy configuration you want on a small plate. Spoon over a good dose of the Calvados sauce and top with a healthy sprinkle of the Sugar and Cinnamon mix. Serve with a medium bodied Merlot. It worked for me.

All right then, I'm calling it a night. That's my first entry, I'm done watching the dull film of the night, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," and I'm ready to turn in. Not die, just go get some shut eye.

'Til next time,

Cheers.