Homemade Sausage Making

Ceviche Recipe
After a hard day on the trail, or seeing the sights, or just idly sitting around translating Latin, you could probably use a refreshing snack. What better than ceviche ("Say-Vee-Chay")and a cold beer? After all, ducks LOVE fish. ...and beer.

The ideal place is the Pacific port of Buenaventura, which is just across the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes mountains, west of Cali. It`s only 125 kilometers away, but it takes 2 1/2 hours to drive there. Yikes! You could go, but we didn`t. We let the sea come to us! A local restaurant about a block away from the hotel featured delicious ceviche.

The following recipe is simple, yet tasty. It also makes enough to feed a small army, so scale it back. (This recipe is enough for four to six people.) Rick Bayless and that pesky Mexican crowd may put ketchup and olives and such in their ceviche, but WE know better. ...right?

• 1 lb. fresh, skinless, filleted ocean fish with white flesh, such as snapper, sea bass, halibut, or corvina (or use 1/2 pound fish and 1/2 pound small to medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined) ...should be as fresh as is available.
  1-1/2 cups lime juice
  1 medium white onion, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
  1 to 2 Serrano pepper, or 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
  Sprinkle of fresh cilantro
  1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)
  Salt to taste (1/4 tsp or less)
  Lettuce garnish (optional)

Cut the fish fillets into 1/2- to 1-inch pieces, and place them in a glass or stainless steel bowl. Add the peeled, deveined shrimp if used. Add lime juice to cover and float the seafood. Cover, place in refrigerator, and chill for 4 hours.

Drain off the lime juice. Add the chopped onion, peppers, cilantro, garlic, and salt. Toss. Chill in refrigerator if not served immediately. Serve in a martini glass or small bowl, somewhere between cold and room temperature, garnished with lettuce if desired, with saltine crackers.

Thanks for that ceviche recipe! will certainly file it. We make it at home in the spring with halibut and pacific prawns. Have tried it at restaurants in Lima (the Peruvians claim that they invented it), and in Rio and it was only so so. Ate some great stuff last winter from a stand at the fish market in Panama City, but the best was the ceviche we bought from a woman selling it from her home in a village in Costa Rica. For some reason we never came across it in Colombia? I love that stuff!

That's a terrific recipe Duk! Just right for appetizers. I could get used to that stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thanks for moving the ceviche recipe to the MRI, CW. It's not only an honor, it's a way of saying "Ceviche...! It's not just for breakfast anymore!" ...or some such nonsense. Whatever.

This recipe was extracted from a thread about our recent travels to Cali and Cartagena, Colombia, on the occasion of our daughter's marriage. Redzed, you may not have run across much ceviche in Colombia because I believe your travels were mostly inland. Cali is only 125 km from the Pacific, and Cartagena is a wonderful cargo/tourist/treasure port on the Caribbean, so we probably saw (and ate!) more than our fair share of ceviche.

There are lots of variations to the recipe which you should try, folks. I have had chunks of lobster in ceviche, as well as several types of shellfish. Many salt-cured or pickled items, such as olives, peppers, and capers can be added, but be sure that the fish and shrimp are the "stars" of the dish. The extras, especially the salty or strong-flavored ones, can overwhelm the concoction if you are not careful.
Duk

el Ducko wrote:Redzed, you may not have run across much ceviche in Colombia because I believe your travels were mostly inland. Cali is only 125 km from the Pacific, and Cartagena is a wonderful cargo/tourist/treasure port on the Caribbean, so we probably saw (and ate!) more than our fair share of ceviche.

We did spend 4 days in Cartagena but did not have any cheviche there but probably because we did not make an effort to look for it. We had dinner three times at an Indonesian restaurant run by a Dutch guy. The flavours were wonderful, as we found most of the Colombian fare lacking in spices of any kind. We also spent 5 days on the Caribbean in a small town called Tolu. A funky off-beat place where bicycle taxis rule the streets. We ate a lot of fish there, mostly grilled or fried whole. Very tasty.

redzed wrote:...as we found most of the Colombian fare lacking in spices of any kind.

You are right. Most Colombians seem happy with their rice, plantains, and beans. However, if you look for it, tasty food is available. (...but as always, it'll cost you!)

Let's go back! ...fascinating place.