Ceviche. What is it? Anyone have any recipes?
 

Hello. Spring-time is coming around eventually, and I was given the chance to come up with some recipes for my work's dinner menu. I have been wanting to do some goddamn ceviche, but the soux told me to find a recipe so she can order the goods.

The "what is it?" title was, I guess, a ploy for people who have no clue what the hell it is, to learn something new. Essentially, ceviche is the process of cooking a protein in an acid. That is the method, a basic recipe would be, shrimp, cooked in lime and lemon juice.

I looked up the formal definition in a book that I have, and it says...

Seviche - An appetizer popular in Latin America consisting of raw fish marinated in citrus (usually lime) juice. The action of the acid in the lime juice "cooks" the fish, thereby firming the flesh and turning it opaque. Onions, tomatoes and green peppers are often added to the marinade. Only very fresh fish should be used for this dish.Pompano, red snapper and sole are the fish most often selected for seviche (which is also spelled ceviche and cebiche

It is truely a fun dish to prepare, and experiment with, as it has quite broad guidelines.

Now, as far as recipes... I hope someone finds one, cause I want to eat some damn ceviche, and it's better at work, cause its free.

I'll post one from a random food website, hopefully we can get some traditional ones up here, as they are always the best.


Here we go...


Citrus Ceviche

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound fresh sea bass, skinless and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 avocados, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
Salt and pepper

In a medium bowl, combine the lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice, ginger and olive oil. Add the sea bass and toss to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. The flesh of the fish should be opaque. Add the cilantro, onion, and avocado. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Anyways, post whatever. Rockzilla, I'm looking in your direction......

1 red snapper filet, skin on, sliced on the bias
1/2 lb peeled deveined shrimp

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and julienned
1/2 red pepper, seeded and julienned
1/4 red onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 2 limes

cracked black pepper
soy sauce
sesame oil
cilantro

Mix peppers onion and garlic together, let sit for ten to fifteen minutes.
Toss with fish and shrimp, and add lime juice, stirring to coat.
Refrigerate one hour. -oops, left that out.
Season with pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil and cilantro, and serve.

Serves 2, 4 as an appetizer.

shrimp, peeled, de-veined & cut into 1/8 inch rings
red snapper skinned & cut into inch squares
halibut, flounder or sole cut the same

FRESH lime juice
small amount of FRESH orange juice. just for flavor, the acid content is lower so will not cook as fast.
lemon zest

chopped FRESH cilantro, basil, Italian parsley (flat leaf)

THINLY sliced garlic cloves
THINLY sliced shallots

extra virgin olive oil

S&P
maybe a pinch of white sugar

in bowl, add fish, lime juice, garlic, shallots. cover, refrigerate for at least 12 hours, until shrimp is done (pink)
DRAIN! if left in acid the cooking process wont stop resulting in a very tough product
add the rest except sugar, mix well, let sit a few minutes
taste & season again if needed. only use sugar if the orange did not add the sweetness your looking for.

finished product should have a bright start with a mild sweet & tangy chew along with your herb finish.

I created this as a sous chef a few years back in a Caribbean restaurant. in was on the menu for about a month

GOD, those all sound Excellent, THANKS!

Seviche - An appetizer popular in Latin America consisting of raw fish marinated in citrus (usually lime) juice. The action of the acid in the lime juice "cooks" the fish, thereby firming the flesh and turning it opaque. Onions, tomatoes and green peppers are often added to the marinade. Only very fresh fish should be used for this dish.Pompano, red snapper and sole are the fish most often selected for seviche (which is also spelled ceviche and cebiche

sounds like the food lovers companion...awesome book

Yep, it is.. haha ya I love that book.

the next time you do some ceviche......put some Ginger Ale in there, holy cow, you'll love the result *and im not kidding*

ceviche is yummy, I'll have to try the recipes posted here.

Sorry I could not find a recipe. I know I did some of that back in college. But I do remember a really good variation of that. The dish was a mixture of beef tartar and sushi. The beef was "cooked" in the ceviche method, but served with wasabi and a more oriental flare. I'll keep looking through my old textbooks to see if I can find anything.

awesome south american dish. Abbreviated version: Need lots of tomatoes, lemon juice, cilantro, garlic, onions. Mix together at you desired proportions. Add salt, vinegar, sugar to your liking. Finally add cooked shrimp, or fish to top off your dish.

jgp, that sounds like a pretty good alternative to a traditional ceviche. I know that sometimes it is hard to find like 6 hours to prep up dinner, and pre-cooking the seafood (especially with shrimp) will definetly yeild a pretty damn good final product. Altho if you were using a fish, there really is no substitute in texture from the protein being cooked in the acid.

Sounds good tho, I'll check it out!

My favorite Sa-VEE-Chay uses shrimp, scallops, octopus, and squid in addition to the veggies and citrus juices. And a healthy amount of Tabasco to spice it up...