After salivating, craving and going gaga over everything Boston-based Dan Whalen creates on his blog, The Food In My Beard, I decided to contact him and ask when he would be visiting NYC so we could officially cook together! Spontaneous as can be, I thought…Why not?
Our friendship grew after his first visit a few months back when I had the opportunity to meet his friends at a potluck, and devour his insane mac & cheese dishes {click here to see the recipes!}. But we decided that the next time he came to the city, we would cook…together! And that’s exactly what we did!
I met him at Junoon {click here to see when I cooked up some spice with their chef!} for an event, grabbed some cocktails, their new apps, and brainstormed on what to cook before trotting over to Eataly next door. We decided on something light and easy after all the deliciousness of spicy Indian munchies!
First stop? Eataly’s produce section! Since we were cooking up a tuna ceviche that night, we had to get all of the fruits and greens needed to make sure the flavors would blend nicely!
Second? The seafood section for a tuna steak! Eataly always provides the freshest goods, and shopping around there in general makes the experience more fun! Did I mention you can grab a glass of vino while you’re grocerying?…hola!
The last stop was Eataly’s wine shop for some red, where they were conveniently having a wine tasting! We stocked up on some red and were all set to go…smiles and all! If you need someone who has some knowledge about wine so you know which to pick on such shops, you can easily check out online.
The ceviche we made was SO easy! All that’s required is a bit of chopping, squeezing, dumping and saran-wrapping. And my favorite part? Having 60’s music blasting in the background…oldies always get my dancing feet a movin’!
Chop:
The onions were stinging our eyes!
Groovin’ to The Big Chill
Squeeze:
Dump:
Saran Wrap my friends!:
After taking the dish out of the refrigerator, I decided to make our ceviche look extra hip by placing it in a glass you would normally see at a speakeasy!
Since we were cooking for four, I decided to add a few spontaneous apps to the menu that night:
Kingswood-inspired brussels sprouts drizzled with maple syrup and a fried egg plopped on top!
Sliced tomatoes and mozzarella!
The cooking was done, the wine was flowing and the lighting was just perfect. My dream had finally come true! After daily glances at The Food In My Beard {click here to vote for Dan in the humor section of the 2012 Saveur Best Food Blog Awards!}, I finally had the opportunity to cook with him, share camera and kitchen tricks, and introduce him to a few of my NYC friends! We all had the best time that night!
Want to make this ceviche at home? Click here for the recipe! It’s easy, it’s healthy and it’s the perfect dish to create your own culinary salon!
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