Cooking Without Heat: Ceviche
Ceviche is one of my favorite seafood dishes year round. But when temperatures rise it is a great choice to liven up a menu without heating up the house. Ceviche (sometimes spelled seviche or cebiche) has its origins in South America and Mexico. It's simply fish or shellfish which is cooked or pickled in acid, usually citrus fruit juice. When combined with other flavorful vegetables and seasonings it becomes a fabulous appetizer or even a light entree.
Ceviche is very flexible. The recipes are easily modified to suit your taste. There are a few basic guidelines to keep in mind before you begin. These are:
- Use ONLY fresh seafood. Texture is imperative to the dish and only fresh, not previously frozen, seafood should be used. Ask your local fishmonger to make the choice for you.
- Each type of seafood will "cook" at a different speed. Some recipes suggest that shellfish (shrimp, mussels, lobster or scallops) should be blanched instead of cooked in the acid. ; This can help keep the texture stable and keep delicate shellfish from falling apart or becoming mushy. ; But if you plan on serving it immediately, you may skip this step. ; For best results before serving a large amount for an event, make a small batch and test the texture each hour until you get the desired silky smooth succulent texture of perfectly pickled seafood. Use this test batch as a guide for the whole batch.
- Ceviche does not keep well. It becomes rubbery and can be described as overcooked when it sits for over 24 hours. Make a batch only as big as you can eat in one meal.
- Match hearty ingredients and flavors with hearty fish, light tasty ingredients with delicate white fleshed fish. This helps balance the dish.
Ingredients are limited only by your own taste. Pungent green olives, ripest summer tomatoes, freshest green herbs (oregano, cilantro or parsley), creamy avocado, red, green or white onion, and mild peppers are all good choices. The juice you use to marinate and season the dish can vary as well. Lime is the most traditional juice used in the U.S. as it most closely matches the Mexican lemon in flavor and pungency. Tomato, lemon and orange juices are also popular. Grapefruit could make a creative twist. Mix and match your ingredients to add color and texture to the dish while maintaining a specific taste theme (i.e. traditional Mexican seasonings: lime, oregano, tomato and fresh chiles; ; Southwestern may include: cilantro, roasted chiles and white onion; Californian creative might include: grapefruit juice, green onions, and avocado).
Ceviche can be quite beautiful on a serving platter. Line a large glass dish or individual serving cup (a wide mouthed martini glass makes an excellent impression) with a few lettuce leaves. Spoon in the ceviche and then garnish with one or more colorful ingredient such as thin rings of red onion, one-quarter of an avocado sliced and fanned, assorted bell peppers finely diced. The possibilities are endless.
Tortilla chips made from fresh corn tortillas are a great accompaniment to ceviche. They add crunch to the experience and make great little scoop servers. For the chile heads among you consider serving Xenepek salsa along side to add a real kick!
To get you started on your ceviche adventure, here are a few links to basic recipes:
Seviche Collection from the Chile Head's Recipe File
Enjoy!
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