- Today, we're making ceviche.
And I have eaten endless amounts of ceviche
on travels across Mexico.
I even popped down to Cabo
to do a bunch of ceviche taste tests,
all in the name of market research for you guys.
But here's what I love about ceviche.
It's incredibly easy to make
and uses only a handful of fresh, healthy ingredients.
It's light and fresh
and a great way to cool off on a bright and sunny day,
or if you're lounging around by a pool.
Now my version is obviously inspired by Mexican ceviche
and that typically includes ingredients
like shrimp or white fish,
tomatoes, cucumber, red onion,
jalapeno or serrano pepper, and cilantro.
But I would be remiss to not give a shout out
to my Peruvian followers,
as ceviche is their national dish.
And it's often a simpler presentation
with a fewer ingredients
that really allows the citrus marinated fish to shine
and take center stage.
I'll have to make another ceviche recipe
for that one in the future.
But today, let's dive into this Mexican inspired ceviche.
To get started, you'll need one pound of firm whitefish,
like sea bass, snapper, cod, or halibut.
I'm using halibut today,
as it was on sale at my local fish monger
and it's fresh wild Alaskan halibut,
which is my favorite.
Shrimp is also a favorite in ceviche
and you could certainly swap it in this recipe
or make the citrus shrimp ceviche recipe on my website.
But today, I'm highlighting ceviche de pescado,
which uses fish rather than shrimp.
And if you hold tight,
I'll show you some of the delicious ceviche variations
I enjoyed on my recent Cabo trip here in a second.
So once you have your one pound of fresh fish,
slice it up into small bite sized cubes
and then add it to a large glass
or non-reactive mixing bowl.
So that means don't use a copper or aluminum bowl
and that's because you're gonna marinate the fish
in a bunch of lime juice
and you don't want a metallic flavor ruining your dish.
In terms of the lime juice,
you'll need a half a cup of fresh lime juice,
which is about five to six limes
depending on how juicy they are.
I always recommend grabbing softer limes
that have a bit of give to them,
because if they're super firm and hard,
they're likely fairly dried up on the inside,
and it's always a bummer
when your limes barely give you any juice.
I personally also like to add the juice of one lemon
to my ceviche,
which is about three tablespoons of lemon juice.
Though I will say,
lemon juice is not common in traditional Mexican ceviche,
where lime juice reigns supreme.
So feel free to use all lime juice in this recipe as well.
Pour all that lime and lemon juice on top of the raw fish,
cover the bowl, and let it marinate in the fridge
for 20 to 30 minutes or so.
The acidity of the lime juice cooks the fish
and you'll notice the fish go opaque as this happens.
You can certainly marinate the fish longer if you'd like,
but just be aware that the longer it marinates,
the more it will cook
and it may turn a bit more tough and rubbery.
So while the fish is marinating,
we can slice up the other ingredients for the ceviche.
And since I'm going with a Mexican-inspired recipe today,
I'll add tomatoes, cucumber and red onion,
which are most commonly added.
For the tomatoes and cucumber, I do a fairly small dice
so that the chunks are a bit smaller
than the pieces of fish.
And then you can chop the red onion as chunky or fine
as you prefer.
For the tomatoes, I'm using two Roma tomatoes
as they're less juicy,
though really any tomato variety works.
You could even use grape tomatoes
and then just slice them in half.
And for the cucumber,
you can use either a field cucumber or English cucumber.
Field cucumbers have thicker skin,
but as I'm peeling the cucumber today,
the skin doesn't really matter.
So once the cucumber is peeled,
just slice and dice that up,
along with half of a small red onion.
In terms of spiciness or heat level,
this can vary greatly.
I'm dicing up one jalapeno pepper today,
and after it's cut,
I'll just shimmy my spoon on the inside to remove the seeds.
Serrano peppers, which are hotter,
are often used as well.
And I do find that the heat level fluctuates
depending on where you get your ceviche.
Touristy places tend to be less hot,
and more authentic restaurants tend to be more hot,
but when you make it at home,
you can of course, alter the heat level to your liking.
Chop up half a bunch of cilantro for an herby pop,
and then I also like to add one avocado.
It's not quite as common to have the avocado diced
with the ceviche,
even though I like to serve it that way.
But you'll often find avocado slices on the side,
like on this one that I enjoyed
at the office restaurant in Cabo.
Now this one was a shrimp ceviche.
I actually ordered fish, but this was served up,
and I was too hungry to send it back and wait for another,
so I just enjoyed it.
Plus, who can be upset when you're eating
any type of ceviche under an umbrella
with a strawberry margarita and your toes in the sand?
I also tried to get out of the main touristy area in Cabo
to where more of the locals eat
and found this great place called Mariscos Kraken.
They used sea bass in their ceviche.
And instead of chopped peppers,
used a hot chili pepper sauce.
And I can tell you
that this version was much spicier and hotter
than the previous one,
and definitely got my sinuses going as I ate it.
But it was so darn good
that I wasn't gonna let any of it go to waste,
so I just downed a whole bottle of water at the same time.
And you can see it was served up with avocado
and cucumber slices on the side.
So similar ingredients, just different presentation.
And for a much more unique version
and non-traditional ceviche,
I had coconut milk ceviche with serrano pepper,
mint, and jicama from Tamarindos
which is a very popular farm to table restaurant.
But let's get back to my ceviche recipe.
And the good news
is that once you've chopped and diced all the veggies,
it's probably been about 20 to 30 minutes or so
and your fish should now have turned opaque,
meaning that it's cooked through.
And that's due to a process called denaturing
where the acid of the lime juice
breaks down the protein structure in the fish
similar to what heat would do.
You can leave the lime juice in the bowl,
there's no need to drain it.
And then just pile the ingredients on top of the fish,
including the tomato, cucumber, red onion,
avocado, jalapeno pepper, cilantro,
and lastly, a teaspoon of kosher salt.
You definitely don't wanna forget the salt.
Stir that all together until you've got this,
a vibrant bowl of ceviche
that's punctuated with lots of red and green.
(bright upbeat music)
You can then pour the ceviche into a serving bowl
if you're serving this up for a family gathering
or dinner party.
And oh, I should also mention
that all of the lime juice in the ceviche
helps to preserve the color of the avocado
and prevent it from going brown
so you don't have to worry about that either.
Now I'm one who likes to eat the ceviche
straight out of a bowl with a spoon
because as soon as I can smell it, I wanna dig in.
But if you wanna do something fun,
you can also serve up individual portions in small glasses.
I have these mini trifle glasses that are perfect
and the little stand
that really makes them easy to grab and hold,
though any glasses work.
You could even add a tortilla chip or two on the side.
And of course, serve up a larger bowl of tortilla chips
as scooping devices as well.
I hope you enjoy today's ceviche recipe
and the little video snippet from my trip to Cabo.
And if you did, make sure to give this video a thumbs up
and share it with your family and friends
because Cinco de Mayo and summer parties
are right around the corner.
(bright upbeat music)
(gentle bright music)