Ceviche

Ingredients:

For those who need a bit of background, Ceviche is a South American dish composed of white fish, shrimp, scallops on their own or mixed together, with lots of coriander and sometimes corn and beans. Its not cooked with heat, but with the acid of citrus fruit; namely lime.

More information on ceviche can be found on the dish at the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche

While my ceviche is far from being authentic, I was glad to have made it as I hadn't had it since I was traveling on business to Miami over 3 years ago and some of the Peruvians I was working with treated me to a fantastic dinner.

Here are my ingredients:

10 fresh limes. (these gave me just over a cup of fresh juice but you can use the easier to use juice made from concentrate as well)
4 large scallops
6 extra large shrimp
A nice piece of halibut. (Ask your fishmonger to give you about 1 serving's worth)
1/2 a red onion
1 or 2 chiles
1 jalepeno pepper
1/2 cup fresh coriander (also known as cilantro)

Start with your limes.

Step 1:

Add the zest of 1 lime to a non-reactive (glass or plastic) bowl.

Then, roll each lime around on a hard surface while applying pressure with your hands so that they'll yield the most juice. Slice limes in half squeeze them out into a measuring cup and set aside.

Prepare your onions onions and peppers by dicing them neatly. Chop up your coriander, and set aside.

Step 2:

Take your lovely piece of halibut (or whatever white fish you decide on... tilapia, flounder, cod...whatever) and get your sharpest knife out and cut off about 1/3 of the filet's worth of fish like so.

Cut the fish down again into thin slices. Think sashimi.

Step 3:

Then, take your scallops, which always remind me of marshmallows... and cut them down widthwise so they're thinner too.

Step 4:

Then, ready your shrimps.

If you have a good source for seafood, you can ask them to de-vein them for you when you ask for them. Otherwise, you're going to have to do this yourself. Start by peeling them and then taking a small knife (a paring knife will do) and running the blade down the back of the shrimp. Run the shrimp under cold water while rubbing its back where you've cut and the vein should come free. You can also pull out the vein with your knife as well.

Once that's done, cut them in half so you'll have twice as many pieces of shrimp.

Step 5:

Bring back your bowl of zest now and put the halibut, scallops and shrimp into it.

Step 6:

Then, add the remainder of your ingredients including the lime juice, ensuring you have enough juice to cover everything up.

Give it a good stir, and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18-24 hours, but remember to stir up the mixture every few hours if you can remember to.

Step 7:

The next day, your ceviche will be ready. Strain what you want to serve from the lime juice mixture and rinse it so that it won't taste overpoweringly limey and serve.