Shark Steaks with Caramelized Xoconostle and Habanada Peppers

By now, most of you who partook of Thanksgiving Day feasting have probably recovered from gorging on turkey and pumpkin pie. Many of you have probably been eating nothing but that for the past week. Some of you are probably ready to eat just about anything else at this point. Fortunately for you, we’ve got you covered with a recipe that contains 0% turkey, gravy, cranberry, stuffing, or pie of any sort (pumpkin or otherwise).

So what’s the opposite of turkey, you ask? Well, that’s just a weird question that doesn’t actually make any sense. But I suppose the case could be made for the answer being “shark”. Graceful undersea predator feared far more than it deserves versus an ungainly ground-dwelling bird that isn’t feared nearly as much as it ought to be? Yeah, that kind of fits.

Not that any of that actually has any bearing on why we are presenting a shark recipe this week. It just happened to be the one we had ready to go.

Like many of our recipes, this one was concocted while Chele and I were out shopping. We were touring the local H Mart, and decided that some fish sounded like a good idea for dinner. We spotted some shark steaks in the fresh seafood case, and decided to take them home. Back home, we were sitting on at least 5 gallons of habanada peppers – a recently-developed sweet, heatless version of the habanero that went absolutely mad in our garden this year (and have kept well enough to last us into December). We desperately needed to use as many of those as we could, so those were in. I had already been toying with the idea of trying the habanadas caramelized with some xoconostles (the sour prickly pears that we used in this pico de gallo) to use as a topping for something, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to give it a spin. Chele suggested some fresh avocado to round things out. Oh, did I mention the spiced rum? Yeah, we put some rum in there, too.

How did it turn out? We’ve made this one three times in the past month, so I think you can take a guess! The shark was fantastic on its own, but it’s the xoconostle-habanada topping that took our love for this dish right through the roof. Not only does the sweet/sour combination complement the shark nicely, it also has its own unique flavor profile that would be a challenge to replicate with other ingredients.

Now, we will be the first to admit that the key ingredients here could be tough to source in your area. But if you do have access to everything, this makes for an unforgettable meal.

Print Recipe

Shark Steaks with Caramelized Xoconostle and Habanada Peppers

Baked shark steaks marinated with lime, spiced rum, and aromatic spices are topped with fresh avocado and a unique blend of carmelized xoconostle (a sour cactus fruit) and habanada peppers (a heatless variety of the normally fiery habanero). It might take some effort to acquire the ingredients, but this will make for a very special meal for two. This recipe is naturally gluten-free, and is dairy-free when using plant-based butter.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Resting Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Fusion

Servings: 2 servings

Author: Gastricurious

Ingredients

• 2 shark steaks 4-6 oz. each
• Juice of 1 lime
• 3 T spiced rum
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp dried cilantro
• 1 cup habanada peppers sliced ¼" thick (about 6 peppers)
• 4 xoconostles
• 1 T butter dairy or plant-based
• 1 T sugar
• Pinch salt
• ½ avocado sliced 1/4″ thick

Instructions

• Mix lime juice, rum, garlic, ginger, clove, and cilantro in a small mixing bowl. Lay shark steaks in a large dish and pour the mixture over the top. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Place shark in a baking dish, and pour any remaining marinade over the top. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork (be careful not overcook, as shark can dry out easily).
• While the shark is cooking, halve xoconostles and remove seeds and red central pulp. Peel, then slice the flesh widthwise into ¼" thick strips.
• Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced xoconostles, habanada peppers, and salt. Stir until coated with the butter, then spread to an even layer. Allow to cook undisturbed for 3-5 minutes, or until things just begin to brown. Turn fruit and peppers over, pressing them down gently as you do so. Allow to cook an additional 3-5 minutes (keep an eye on the pan during this – you are looking for things to be lightly browned at this point, but not crispy. Reduce heat if anything appears to be cooking too quickly).
• Add the sugar to the pan, and stir until it melts and coats the xoconostle-pepper mixture. Continue stirring and cooking for several minutes longer, until the sugar turns a caramel-brown and the edges of the fruit and peppers start to turn crispy.
• Transfer the shark steaks to serving plates. Lay several slices of avocado across the top of each steak. Top with the caramelized xoconostles and habanada peppers.

Notes

• We chose to bake our shark for this recipe, but we have no doubt that it would also be excellent grilled or pan-seared.

• We use whole skinless shark steaks for this, which include an obvious “bone” (actually a vertebra made of cartilage). Other cuts should work fine, but you may need to adjust your cooking time.

• Xoconostle are rather rare in the US, but are occasionally available in Mexican grocery stores and some supermarkets that carry a large variety of specialty produce. Here in the Chicago area, we find them fairly often at Tony’s Fresh Market. If you can’t find them fresh, try searching for dried xoconostle online.

• Don’t try to substitute red or green prickly pears (or anything else, for that matter) for the xoconostles. There really is nothing else we know of that is quite like them.

• Habanada peppers (sometimes sold as “honey zeppers”), have only been around since 2014 and are not widely available yet. You can try looking around at farmers markets or specialty produce vendors, but your best bet will probably be to order some seeds and grow them yourself. They are almost comically easy to grow, and will produce more peppers than you are likely to know what to do with.

• We leave the seeds and membranes in the habanadas when we use them as they seem to hold quite a bit of flavor. Feel free to remove them if you prefer.