Ceviche

Ever since I spent a few weeks travelling around southern Peru and sampled my first sour, slippery, slice of citrus-cured fish, I’ve always been fascinated by Ceviche.  I love the way it looks as thought it has been seared on the outside, even though it hasn’t been anywhere near the heat.  I always order it if I see it on a menu (e.g. various delicious offerings from Wahaca – can’t wait to try the MSC Scallop version on their new summer menu).  For some reason though, I rarely make ceviche at home.  Odd really, as it’s so simple!

When I unpacked a beautiful chunk of Mahi-Mahi from my shopping bag the other day, it seemed to be the most natural way to do the fish justice.

Here’s how:

For the marinade:

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of  1 large lime (or 2 smaller/less juicy ones)

½ a small white or red onion, as thinly sliced as you can manage.

Half a green chilli, chopped finely (I keep the seeds in for a bit of punch)

2 tbsp chopped coriander

A generous pinch of sea salt  - I used hibiscus salt (Maldon whizzed with a few dried hibiscus flowers), I like the faint perfume and fruitiness that it imparts and the attractive pink colour it adds).

First choose your fish: pretty much any fish will do I think, providing it’s as fresh as possible.  I prefer firm-fleshed, meaty, white fish.

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a dish so that the liquid is deep enough to submerge at least half of your fish fillet.

Place the raw fish in and marinate for about 2 hours (this will depend on how thick your fish is, how dense its texture and how cured you want it – mine was about 3cm thick and I like it quite ‘raw’ in the middle).

Spoon the marinade over the fillet and allow the herbs/onions to sit on top helping to cure the upper side.  Baste occasionally and turn the fish completely half-way through the 2 hours.

 Once the curing time is up, remove the fish, wipe off the excess marinade and  slice carefully into 5mm slices with the sharpest knife you can find.

Traditionally, this dish is served with a simple salad but for my dinner I had it alongside some steamed sprouting broccoli and some of the crunchy onions from the marinade, drained, on the side.