Over the past week or so, both my darling niece, Dana, and my sister-in-law, Doran,  texted me (separately…obviously since they don’t know each other and live three thousand miles apart) to say they’d tried the ceviche from the new Thug cookbook and were very happy with the results. I’ve been wanting to try it ever since. Though the larder is getting pretty bare, we happened to have the ingredients (more or less) up here at the cabin to make a half-recipe of the stuff, and it is damn delicious.

In fact, I never thought I’d say it because I was never much of a fan of the white version of broccoli, but between the cauliflower rice, the roasted sriracha cauliflower, and now this ceviche, cauliflower is my new jam.

Sorry broccoli…you’re my old jam.

Anyway, I got a teensy bit behind on my essay-grading schedule, so James (who finished his grading in great triumph hours before I finished mine) made most of the recipe. I finished it off and made the rest of dinner.

So here we go (and I feel a bit bad for reproducing this recipe, BUT I have purchased at least ten of the Thug cookbooks to send to people I love…and for myself, of course, so I feel entitled to reproduce a few recipes with my own adjustments).

Thug(ish) Ceviche

Toss together in a bowl and refrigerate for an hour or so:

• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped into little tiny fleurettes
• 3-4 diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion (I used shallots because I had no red onion…and shallots are just tiny red onions)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup lime juice (I had to use lemon juice because I ran out of lime a couple of days ago)
• salt and pepper to taste

Just before serving, add:

• 1 diced avocado
• 1/4 cup cilantro

It is VERY fresh tasting, and really more like a chopped salad that will be even better the next day.

Here’s a picture of the “ceviche”…

…and here’s a picture of dinner, which was the ceviche and marinated, grilled tofu on a salad of romaine and shredded carrots and cucumbers. The whole thing was delightfully refreshing!

Oops…forgot the ubiquitous (in my house) sesame seeds…

The tofu was from another Thug recipe for ginger-sesame marinated, baked tofu (but I grilled it, rather than baking it). Here’s the (slightly adapted) recipe for the marinade:

Ginger-Sesame Tofu Marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 TBS lime juice (I used lemon because…see earlier recipe)

2 TBS maple syrup

1 TBS minced fresh ginger

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 TBS  sriracha

2 cloves garlic

Throw it all in the bullet until blended and then pour over one package of extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed for at least 20 minutes (to remove water). Let it marinade for an hour or two and then grill it or bake it (I grilled it because I like the little grill lines on the tofu).

And here’s my real jam…