Peruvian Style Ceviche

 

Ingredients

• 1 pound pre-frozen lingcod, rockfish or other lean, white fish
• 3 limes
• 2 lemons
• 1 grapefruit
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/2 red onion, sliced root to tip
• 2 Roma or other paste tomatoes, seeded
• 1 ear of corn, kernels sliced off
• 1 habanero or rocoto chile pepper, or more to taste
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Instructions

• Slice the fish into small, bite-sized pieces. Cut the tomatoes into pieces the same size as the fish and set them aside for later. Zest 1 lime, 1 lemon and the grapefruit and grate them fine; I use a microplane grater to do this. Mince the habanero fine. Juice all the citrus. Add all the ingredients except for the tomatoes and the cilantro to a bowl or plastic container with a lid and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
• Add the tomatoes and cilantro, mix well and serve cold with chips.

Notes

Marinating times make a difference when you are making ceviche. Depending on the size of the fish pieces, you will need at least 30 minutes and normally an hour for the citrus to "cook" the fish. Two hours is fine, but beyond that the ceviche, while still good, becomes more of a pickled fish thing. It's a subtle difference, but you can taste it. Citrus matters, too. You always want the dominant citrus in the marinade to be either limes or lemons, which are far more acidic than oranges, grapefruits or tangerines. Add these fruits as an accent to the ceviche; I am especially fond of a little grapefruit in the mix.