Friday, April 10th - Good Friday - Ceviche and Veggie Soft Tacos

Breakfast was cereal even though we had the time. It was sunny today and the forecast was rain so we wanted to get outside. D did stop to have this cappucino's though while reading his book "Expresso Coffee, Professional Techniques". Seriously. We've both tried again and again to make latte art, to no avail. I cheated once and used a chopstick to draw a face but that's it.

We're having veggie taco's with the St. Ives' Veggie Mexican ground. I used to use just tofu and a seasoning pack but I tried this faux ground round last fall and it was great! So in preparation, several hours before, I'm making simple Ceviche. mmmm I luves ceviche.

Ceviche is 'cooking' fish or seafood with 'acid'. In this case, lime juice. The spanish will often use wine vinegar and small smelts or fresh anchovies. So good! You'll definitely see the small white fleshed fish in tapa bars all over Spain. For the Peruvian or Mexican, with the citrus, best to stick to firm flesh, white fish, scallops or shrimp. I don't like to do the latter at home. If you search for recipies you'll notice that there seem to be loads of ingredients in the Mexican ones but that's because they'll tell you how to make the complete dish served. This recipe here that I use that is based on watching some people on TV and other recipies online is for the fish prep alone. With it you can serve fresh tomato salsa, cilantro or avocado salad. The peruvian recipes will often tell you the naked recipes. Just use mine and use the fish in which ever way you want, wraps, salads, tacos, tapas...

Dead Easy Ceviche

1/2 lb fish (today I'm using 120 g of FRESH snapper and 124 g of FRESH halibut filet)
3 limes (have extra, you need to have enough to just cover the fish)
1t chopped chili
1t cumin (optional)
1T olive oil

Slice the fish across the grain into strips. Or any which way to make thin pieces. Arrange in one layer in a non-reactive dish, glass or pyrex. Mix the lime juice, oil, cumin and chili and pour over. Actually, I like to squeeze on lime into the dish first and put the fish on top. Cover the dish with plastic and put in the fridge. Turn every half hour or so. Now time depends on how thick you cut the fish. You want the fish opaque. It is best to go over night. Drain and serve. I am doing it for 3 hours because I didn't use that much fish and I've sliced the pieces 1/2 cm (1/4 ") thick. It was turning opaque before I was done squeezing the last lime. But that time is again based on the FRESHNESS of my fish, the thiness and the source of the fish. To be sure, please go over night but BE SURE to use good fish. It should not be smelly when you're handling it. Don't think of it as a way to get rid of dodgy fish.