I wanted a cow a year ago, badly. Those were Nam’s words, while telling me about the day he caught his big 288-pound bluefin. It happened on June 28th, 30 miles of the coast of San Diego.

Nam is a member of the Freedom Boat Club, out of Dana Landing. On Wednesday, June 28th, Nam and a good friend got their reserved boat and headed out to find big tuna.

The first thing he needed was clear water. That didn’t happened until they were 30 miles off the coast. Nam spotted breaking yellowfin, but that wasn’t his target. His Fujinon Techno-Stabi binocs, his kite, and his yummy flier were all on board with one purpose, big bluefin.

When Nam finally spotted 100-pound bluefin jumping out of the water, it was time to setup the kite and get the yummy flier bait going. He was in the right zone. Only problem, he had never done this before. But he did a lot of homework prior to this moment.

He let out the kite about 600-feet behind the boat then started using his binocs to monitor his bait. By finding the right drift, boat speed and heading, Nam finally got his flier bait to dance and skip across the surface of the water, that took 45 minutes. At that 46 minute mark, Nam lost sight of his bait. Frustrated, he turned to his pole to reel in his lost bait. His pole was totally bent. Nam throttled the boat for 5 seconds to set the hook, then it was game on for two solid hours before Nam and his buddy gaffed his fish. My hats off to Nam for this phenomenal feat of shear will, and smart fishing!!

This recipe is for Nam, just to help him eat some of that bluefin!

Green Chile Tuna Ceviche on Tostadas

make 6-8 tostadas

Ingredients

2 Pounds tuna, cubed
1 Pack of Mexican Tostadas
4 Limes, juiced
1 Orange, juiced
2 Cucumbers, peeled, deseeded, and cut into half moons
2 Mangos, coarse diced
1 Bundle cilantro, chopped
2 Serrano peppers, chopped
Kosher salt
4 Tomatillos
4 Stalks of Mexican green onions
1 Red pepper, finely sliced (sweet or spicy hot, the choice is yours!)

Directions

Roast, char and soften the tomatillos, Mexican green onions and Serrano peppers. This can be done on a grill, in a frying pan or in a 350F oven for 30 minutes.
Coarse chop the tomatillos, Mexican green onions and Serrano peppers and place them in a blender. Add the bundle of cilantro. Add the juice of 3 limes, and one orange. Add a liberal pinch of salt and blend for no more than a minute. Pour into a bowl.
Into that same bowl, add the diced tuna, cucumbers and mangos. Refrigerate for no more than one hour.
Serve the mexican tuna ceviche on individual tostadas and garnish with the sliced red pepper.

Enjoy!