Turbot Ceviche

 

So refreshing, it’s like summer in a bowl!

The best ceviche I ever had was at a fine dining restaurant in Miami. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant now, but I can remember that the fish was cobia and it was tart and sweet and that it was topped with an icy asian pear granita. It was like walking in the desert and then suddenly coming across an oasis filled with sparkling, ice cold citrus water. I wanted to ask them to serve me 15 more plates of it and then tell them to kill me because I would never  be able to taste something so delicious again. Of course I’m exaggerating, and I did live to taste other purely transcendental foods, but this memory will always be one of my favorites because it was one of my first times of experiencing true food nirvana.

My own go-to ceviche recipe is down right homey in comparison. I like to imagine it’s close to what you’d get served from a shack on a beach in Mexico along with an ice-cold cerveza. It’s a messy mishmash of comforting latin flavors and if you ‘d let me, I’d eat a gallon of it and horde it all to myself.

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Ingredients:

• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 one red onion, minced
• 1/2 of one jalapeño, minced
• 10 medium sized limes, juiced
• 1 large navel orange, juiced
• 1 avocado, mashed
• 1/2 cup of cilantro leaves, minced
• 1 lb. of a white-fleshed fish, shrimp, or octopus*
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a pinch of pepper
• a drizzle of olive oil

Instructions: 

First prepare all of your veggies. Mince the onion and the jalapeño (making sure not to get any on your hands, use gloves if necessary). Slice the tomato lengthwise and remove all of the seeds before laying them flat and dicing them. They should definitely be cut larger than the onions, but be sure not to make them too large. Pull off a large handful of cilantro leaves and place them on your cutting board. Chop roughly with a sharp knife, making sure to stir up the mixture and run your blade through multiple times. In a separate bowl remove the avocado from it’s skin and mash it with a fork until there are no chunks left and it is very creamy. Using a citrus press juice the ten limes and one orange. You should have about a cup of citrus juice per pound of fish. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl adding your honey, salt and pepper, and olive oil last. The mixture will look slightly cloudy from the avocado. Taste mixture and adjust flavor as necessary. Finally take your fish (I used turbot this time) and slice it into 1 inch by 1/2 inch chunks. Combine with everything else and stir thoroughly, completely submerging all pieces of the fish in the liquid. Place in the fridge and allow it to cure for at least one hour.

*If you have just gone fishing and have fish or shrimp you caught with 12 hours this is the best possible protein to have. Second best would be purchasing sashimi grade or flash frozen at sea. Fish, shrimp and even sea scallop can be put into the ceviche raw and left to cure, but octopus must be cooked first. Google cooking instructions for octopus if you want to go this route.