Ceviche - the Mexican sashimi.

I thought that I might post an entry that doesn't deal with Italian food for a change. Not that, this being the 5th post, I've posted a ton of Italian-inspired recipes, but we'll be getting there soon!


Ceviche, traditionally, is a mixture of seafood (typically with a meaty white fish) that is cooked not by heat, but by the acidity of lime juice. Sounds weird, doesn't it? Scary? But it's neither! It is absolutely delicious.

If you have time to hop in your car, drive 20 minutes to the Mexican joint that serves probably not authentic Mexican food but Americanized "Mexican" cuisine, then you have the time to gather the ingredients and prepare this dish that is so simple and delicious.

I first discovered the joy of ceviche when I was living down in southern California, where, besides Mexico, some of the best authentic Mexican cuisine can be had. It was a little place in Irwindale that my friend Mike took me to, and introduced me to this dish. It was served on a good-sized plate on top of a crispy tostada.

For those Taco Bell fans, a tostada isn't some conglomeration of cheap tortillas, canned 'refried' beans, meat that you wouldn't serve your dog, and this pseudo "salsa" crap. A tostada, a Spanish word meaning "toasted", is a flat corn tortilla that has typically been deep-fried, or oven-toasted, to create one big and round tortilla chip.

Anyway you will need the following utensils:

1 glass or plastic bowl - nothing metallic as this will react with the acids of the citrus juice
A good knife
Something to mix everything together (try to use a wooden spoon if you can)
A citrus juicer - handheld, machines are lame

Ingredients:

• About a couple of pounds of firm white fish - I recommend Tilapia, Catfish, Red Snapper, or Cod
• 8 - 10 limes per pound of fish (it is essential you use fresh limes. Bottled lime juice just doesn't cut it - it also has a horrible flavor - very bittersweet).
• 1 big white onion (yellow isn't so great with ceviche, it imparts a flavor that I find offensive)
• 1-2 Serrano chili peppers, depending on how spicy you like your food. If you don't want any spice, you can leave these out, but a little heat is nice
• 2 medium-sized beefsteak or other large tomatoes. you can even use Heirloom tomatoes, they are tasty!
• about 1/2 tablespoon of salt, more or less to taste
• a good handful of fresh cilantro/coriander, roughly chopped

Note: You can also add in some shrimp - however they must be uniformly diced. If you feel like experimenting, throw in some finely-diced bell peppers, or minced garlic! Also you can experiment with various kinda of seafood, however oily fish does NOT work well with this dish. Octopus is lovely, as is squid.


With your fish, dice it into even pieces, about 1-inch in size. It's important that the fish is fairly uniform in dice, as if they are any larger the fish will not 'cook' evenly, and it will be pretty disgusting when you bite into raw fish in this dish.
Put the fish into your non-metallic bowl.
Now, with the limes... it's important that they are not totally freezing cold, because it will be harder to extract all the juice from them. A good trick is to stick them in the microwave for about 5 seconds, just enough to warm them up a bit, but never to a point of being lukewarm.

Cut each lime in half (remember, we're using 8 - 10 limes per pound of fish being used, so adjust accordingly).

Juice each lime-half into the bowl of the fish.

Mix well, and put the bowl of lime/fish into the refrigerator about about 1 1/2 -2 hours. You can check in on it intermittently and stir it, not a bad idea.

In the meantime, dice up your onion and tomatoes. Not into humongous chunks - Ceviche is best when all ingredients are pretty much the same size.
Also, dice the chili peppers if you are using them. Remember, the heat is in the seeds! So the less seeds you include, the less heat. I would recommend wearing a pear of latex gloves while handing the peppers; the seeds contain an irritant that if you rub your eyes, you will be crying like a baby.

After the fish mixture has been marinating for the 1 1/2 -2 hours, add in your tomatoes and onions, stir until evenly mixed, then add in the cilantro, chilies, and salt.
Mix again, then pop back in the refrigerator for about 30 more minutes.

You can eat this as-is, or serve over warmed corn tortillas, or oven-toasted or even fried corn tortillas. Sometimes I like to serve this over shredded lettuce as well and have it as a full salad.

Enjoy!