Peeps Ceviche

At first it seemed like a challenge straight out of Chopped. With Easter fast approaching, the ES crew put our minds to the task of concocting recipes from that prototypical Easter candy: Peeps. Running through the possibilities of pureeing, broiling or melting the marshmallow-y treats, I decided to stick to a raw application so that my kitchen wouldn’t become an even bigger mess than it usually is.

So sticking with the raw idea, I settled on peeps ceviche. Typical ceviche in it’s simplest form is a dish of of raw fish marinated in citrus and spiced with chili peppers. With that as a starting point it was fairly easy to come up with a plan for a sweet Peeps “ceviche” dish.

Opening up the cabinets, I began to taste combos to see what would work. Chopped Peeps, fresh lime juice and chili peppers were a start, but a little crunch and freshness was needed so I added some raw chopped strawberries. There was also the issue of whether I wanted to gobble the stuff up by the spoonful or use some other method of delivery. Thinking a little salt and richness could  lend something to the party, I melted some dark chocolate, dipped tortilla chips in the chocolate  and popped them in the freezer for 15 minutes.

After all this work, I was ready to taste the concoction and…..it was a mess. The flavors all worked well — the tang of lime juice, dark chocolate’s bittersweet depth, the strawberries’ freshness and the lingering heat of dried chili were all phenomenal. But the Peeps were a different story. In ceviche, the citrus alters the fish, making it firmer and more opaque, but with Peeps, it just breaks them down into a gooey mess.

A second round was in order, so this time I froze a few Peeps before chopping them and didn’t squeeze the lime juice on until the very end. This worked out much better. By the first bite, the Peeps had thawed a little and the citrus was working its magic so that the Peeps added a silkiness to every bite.

OK, ES-ers, what Peep-tastic Easter dishes do you have up your sleeves?