Mint-flavored swordfish tartare with toasted pistachios

• 10 minutes to prepare • Serves 4

 

 

10 MINUTES 

Ah, birthdays.
From the mailing list of online shops you recently visited, to your Facebook friends, everyone wishes you a happy one. Plenty of people go out for their birthdays, staging glamorous parties even as adults, milking each birthday for all it’s worth.
Generally, I’m not that enthusiastic about celebrating my own birthday. It’s not that I hate it, but I just don’t see the need to make a big fuss about it every year.
(Most of the time - honestly - I would prefer to lie in bed all day with the covers over my head and my phone turned off, spending the day hugging my pillow...)
But, since I tend to be the planner of my family and my group of friends, it usually falls to me to make my own birthday plans: picking a restaurant, making a reservation, sending invitations out.

You might not even understand why birthdays seem to make you want to shut yourself in the wardrobe.
I believe there's one nasty word that has everything to do with why birthdays end up being exactly the opposite of what we think they should be: Expectations.
Sometimes, our expectations aren't met. Expectations about where we are in our lives, and what we think our lives should look like at this point. All too often, birthdays become a reminder of all the things we haven't accomplished, all the ways we are behind our peers, or all the things we lack. Birthdays represent a milestone marker for all the dreams we still have or can't have, for all the things we would like to achieve, try, feel, before normal life will change.

So what's a person in birthday-blues recovery to do? Here are some ways to tackle my birthday blues:
- Run at escape velocity until all the anxiety is sweated out, ha-ha
- Try to focus on the present, knowing that probably everyone in the world experiences these feelings, at least sometimes
- Engage in positive activities, in things that make you happy...like cooking!
This week, it's going to be my birthday, so I have decided I'll cook what I want to. Mostly healthy and tasty recipes, based on fish and vegetables. (Of course I will bake a cake too, but that will come later...stay tuned)
Today it is the turn of a quick and easy lunch, following the recipe by Pinguino in cucina: trust me when I say it, the result is going to be amazing, and in just 10 minutes!

Here's what you will need for the 4-serving recipe:

 

800 g  fresh swordfish cut into 4 thick slices
30 mint leaves
50 g pistachios
EVO oil
salt and pepper

 

1. Rinse mint leaves under cold water and finely chop it
2. Chop the slices of swordfish into in cubes of about half centimeter per side
3. Prepare the swordfishtartare: place the swordfish in a large bowl, then add the mint, 4 tablespoons of EVO oil, salt and pepper. Stir gently to mix
4. Heat a non-stick pan over high heat for a few minutes
5. Toast pistachios in a pan with no seasoning, then chop them coarsely
6. Finally, place a ring mold on each plate. Place swordfish in the ring old and pat it down gently with the bottom of a spoon to create a flat surface, so when the ring mold is removed the tartare remains in a cylindrical shape
7. Remove ring mold and top the tartare with crunchy chopped pistachios

In the following, Nutrition Facts of this dish are indicated. Data is provided per serving.

When I look at my life and its secret colours, I feel like bursting into tears
(Albert Camus)