Ceviche is a perfect Sunday dish. It’s lightening-fast and easy to make, you can develop the recipe based upon whatever’s seasonal, and it feels just a little decadent and special, which I think is ideal for Sundays.
I decided to throw together a simple whitefish and crab (I had a tiny bit of leftover crab from earlier in the week—otherwise it’s optional) ceviche with the loot from this week’s farmer’s market. The nice thing about ceviche is you can alter the flavors to be as simple or as complicated as you like. You can use three ingredients or ten; it’s a good dish to experiment with.
There are only three basic rules:
1) use the freshest fish/seafood you can get;
2) keep your flavors simple and fresh—you don’t want to overpower the seafood;
3) choose RIPE citrus fruits for the best flavor.
I picked up some Mexican limes, which have a tendency to be a little on the sour side unless you get them at the peak of ripeness. These limes were outstanding—firm, a little heavy and yet soft enough that the skin gives a bit when squeezed.
WHITEFISH CEVICHE WITH CRAB
Serves: 4
1/2 – 3/4 pound whitefish, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped fine
3 stalks green onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
3-4 limes, fresh squeezed
pinch sea salt
pinch white pepper
1/2 cup cooked crab (optional)
1. Chop the whitefish and red onion and place in reaction-proof bowl (I prefer ceramic). Squeeze lime juice over mixture, add 1/2-pinch of salt, fold everything together, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes in order to let it cook/marinate.
2. When the fish is nearly all the way cooked through and opaque, mix in the rest of the ingredients making sure everything is coated with citrus juice.
3. Serve with chips, corn nuts or popcorn (I pick up kettle corn at the farmer’s market and it goes FABULOUSLY with ceviche because of it’s sweet/salty mixture. I highly recommend it.)
Enjoy!
Loonyville 