JUST LIKE JIMMY WOULD HAVE SERVED

You’ve been out on the beach or out on the boat. You have some nice fillets- grouper, snapper, fluke, black seabass, snapper, striped bass, mahi- congratulations on a good day of fishing! It’s summer, a festive time of year. You could slave over the grill, but the thought of the sea breeze and a margarita is dancing in your head. Close your eyes and it could be Cabo or Puerto Vallarta or maybe just Ocean City, but it is your piece of heaven. Here’s just the “cool” recipe you need for a relaxing meal that can be prepared in advance without interrupting your Margaritaville “vibe”.

Ceviche is a classic Mexican inspired, no-cook summer dish that works with any fresh fish fillet with mild flavor- you can even mix in some shrimp. The key to this dish is three “F’s” – Fish, Fresh, Flavorful!

Here are your ingredients:

• 1-pound fresh, skinless snapper, mahi, striper, black sea bass, fluke, halibut, or other mild ocean fish fillets, cut into 1/2-inch dice
  

• 1 1/2 cups fresh lime juice- buy a lot of limes to squeeze- I mean a lot! You can’t have too many, the extra will go in the margaritas and vodka tonics!

• 1 medium white onion, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

• 2 medium-large tomatoes (about 1 pound), chopped into 1/2-inch pieces. Buy them from a local farmer!

• Fresh hot green chiles (2 to 3 serranoes or 1 to 2 jalapeños), stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped

• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro, plus a few leaves for garnish

• 1/3 cup chopped pitted green olives (manzanillos for a typical Mexican flavor). OK, I love black olives, so that is what I go with. Pick your favorite!

• 1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

• ·Kosher salt

• ·3 tablespoons fresh orange juice or just squeeze in a juicy one. This is not an exact science!

• 1 large or 2 small ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced- emphasis is in RIPE. Don’t make this hard on yourself.

• Tostadas, tortilla chips, or saltine crackers, for serving
  

Now for the magic:

1.      In a 1 1/2-quart glass or stainless-steel bowl, combine the fish, lime juice, and onion. Use enough juice to cover the fish and allow it to float freely; too little juice means unevenly "cooked" fish. Cover and refrigerate for about 4 hours, until a cube of fish no longer looks raw when broken open. Drain in a colander. Again, this is not a science, but if it soaks too little, not only won’t it be “cooked, the FLAVORS will not have had time to be absorbed by the fish.

.      a. .HERE’S AN OPTION: The fish can be marinated or “cooked” a day in advance. After the same 4 hours mentioned above, DO drain it so that it won't be “over done”. Don’t

add the veggies (see step 2.) and flavorings to the fish more than a few (2-3) hours

before serving. This will keep it all very FRESH.

2.      In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, green chiles, cilantro, olives, and optional olive oil. Stir in the fish and season with salt, usually about 1/2 teaspoon. Add the orange juice. Cover and refrigerate if not serving immediately.

3.      Just before serving, gently stir in the diced avocado. GENTLY- don’t make it guacamole!

Serving:

There are many ways to serve ceviche. If you are serving at a larger event, place the ceviche in a large bowl and let people spoon it onto individual plates to eat with chips or saltines. If you are sitting down to eat it, spoon the ceviche into small bowls and serve tostadas, chips, or saltines alongside. Family style? Sure! You can put the ceviche onto plates and then pass bowls of extra veggies, crackers, crisps and tostadas around. How ever you serve it, garnish the ceviche with cilantro leaves before serving.