Ceviche for Miss Sunshine

Admittedly, there has been some not-awesome stuff clinging, like a bitchy barnacle, to the four walls of our house. However, we are weathering through and thank-you all so much for your kind words and well-wishes. Your support has been wonderful.

Today I'm happy to share some super-awesome with you. Yep, it's not all thunder and storm clouds over here--we've got serious sunshine, too. Her name is Daniela and she's a student from Torreon, Mexico. She's staying with us until July, touring the state and helping me keep The Minxes entertained. Her twin, Alejandra, is staying nearby, so oftentimes, we're lucky enough to get a double dose of sunshine in our house. The Minxes are over the moon, they're so in love.



Dani and Ale have been craving a few foods from their hometown, and I've been having a lot of fun trying to re-create those dishes. One of their desires has been for ceviche, a salad of raw or barely cooked seafood that's marinated in a spicy citrus dressing. We ordered it for lunch a few days ago at a sunny Boulder cafe; as soon as we took our first bites, we knew it wasn't going to suffice.

"There's too much filler in there," Dani said, squinting at the plate. "You can hardly find the fish."

"Where's the lime?" Ale asked. "It's supposed to taste like lime."

"This isn't spicy at all!" I said. "Aren't there supposed to be chiles in there?"

Hrumph. Clearly, in order to get this right at all, we were going to have to make it ourselves. But, ummm...I've never made ceviche and raw fish kind of skeebs me out.

Not that the fish is really raw once it gets to your plate; the lemon-lime dressing actually "cooks" the fish, so it's really quite safe to eat, honest.

When searching for a go-to recipe for ceviche, I decided that I really couldn't go wrong with Reichl. The woman in charge of Gourmet magazine (may it rest in peace) certainly isn't a hack; she knows good food. I found this recipe for Shellfish Watermelon Ceviche in The Gourmet Cookbook, and it sounded like a winner.

Juicy watermelon, sharp chiles, lightly poached seafood, and a bright kick from orange and ginger? What's not to like?

We scooped up bites of that lusciousness with sturdy, salty tortilla chips and basked in the accomplishment of getting it right. Sometimes, there's nothing finer.



Shellfish Watermelon Ceviche
serves 6 as a first course

1 navel orange
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup diced (1/4-inch) seeded watermelon
1/2 teaspoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
2-3 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeno or serrano chile (to taste), including seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound sea scallops, tough side muscle removed from each if necessary, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 pound large shrimp in shells, peeled, deveined, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 pound cooked lobster, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
3 small heads bibb lettuce, leaves separated (optional)

Cut and peel white pith from orange with a sharp paring knife, then cut segments free from membranes. Chop enough segments to measure 1/4 cup; discard remainder or save for another use. Combine chopped orange, orange juice, lime juice, watermelon, ginger, onion, jalapeno and salt in a large bowl and stir until combined.

Bring a 1-quart saucepan of well-salted water to a boil, then add scallops and poach at a bare simmer until just cooked through, about 1 minute. With a slotted spoon, transfer scallops to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Return water to a boil and add shrimp; poach at a bare simmer until just cooked through, about 1 minute. Drain and transfer to a bowl of ice water.

Drain scallops and shrimp well and pat dry.

Add scallops, shrimp, lobster, and mint to watermelon mixture and toss to combine, then season with salt. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours.

Serve ceviche with lettuce leaves on the side, if desired (use a slotted spoon for transferring ceviche to leaves).

Alaskan Black Cod with Hoisin and Ginger Sauces

Now I know that some of you readers, like Amber, fear the fish. And sure, fish can be intimidating, and if you've ever had a run-in with bad fish...well, let's just say that it's hard to get your Fish Mojo back after that.

But this recipe is light, healthy and easy. And, despite the short ingredient list, really flavorful!

Delicate fish like cod and halibut really thrive under Asian seasonings. The fish becomes a blank canvas for the heady flavors of ginger, sesame and hoisin. Served with some steamed rice and a vegetable, this is a dish light enough for Spring palates, but flavorful enough to satisfy.



Alaskan Black Cod with Hoisin and Ginger Sauces*
from Bon Appetit Magazine
serves 4

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 tablespoon honey
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 1/4 teaspoons hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 7-ounce Alaskan black cod fillets
steamed rice
steamed vegetable of your choice

Whisk first 6 ingredients in a small bowl.

Preheat oven to 450. Stir hoisin and chili paste together in another small bowl.

Heat oil in heavy, large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add cod, skin side up. Cook 2 minutes, then turn cod over. Spoon hoisin mixture over the fillets. Transfer to oven and bake until fish is just opaque in the center, about 5 minutes. Place 1 fillet in each of 4 shallow soup bowls. Spoon ginger sauce around fish and serve with rice.

* A few notes from me: I couldn't find Alaskan cod, but if you can, I encourage you to use it. If you can't find cod, another sustainable fish such as halibut can be used. Also, this dish is fairly salty due to the soy and hoisin. I used a lower-sodium soy sauce and found it plenty salty. We liked it with a crisp white wine, like Pinot Grigio.

SMAM Round-Up and Don't Fear the Fish!

Hello to February! And you know what that means, right? Bye-bye to Shrink-My-Ass-Month!!

Sorta.

Since there's a really good reason why I don't step on a scale, and haven't for years, I will tell you that I don't know if I lost any weight this month. And no, I refuse to examine my ass in a mirror. I remember vividly the trauma of the last Booty Scrutiny.

But I will say that my pants are a little looser. I no longer feel like a keilbasa stuffed into its casing when I slide on the jeans. So I'm good.

As for Hubs? He looks awesome! He looked great anyways, but he's worked hard this month with the exercise (something I wasn't nearly as motivated to do) and let me tell you--my man is smoking!

And still not satisfied. Sigh.

So, until we leave for vacation in March, he is still on a modified le regime. Modified in that I will no longer be cooking strictly SMAM-type recipes. But I will try to keep things relatively healthy around here.

So February is Half-Assed Month, I guess?

Anyways, on with the show! And I hope you'll stick around, because I've got some yummy things planned for us. Plus, another upcoming Guest Post from TKW's Daddy-O--something you know you don't want to miss, so tune in on Wednesday!

*****

I'm sure a lot of you have fond memories of favorite foods from childhood. You know, those dishes that, when you heard the answer to "Ma, what's for dinner?" made you do a secret little herky in your heart and think "Yes!"

Personally, my favorites varied from year to year, but there were always certain dishes that I'd start yearning for, dreaming about, and then pester Mama relentlessly for.

To her credit, Mama always laughed and said, "I like requests." I feel like that, too. Requests make things easy on the cook because the "What's for Dinner?" conundrum is already solved.

Ambrosia over at Making The Moments Count emailed me a week or two ago, requesting a recipe for fish. You see, Ambrosia fears the fish.





She thinks she hates it, is pretty sure she might gag if she sees it and she is hesitant to cook it. But she's a brave girl, because she told me that she really wants to make fish. She wants to like it. She knows it's good for her and thinks she might be ready to give fish a second chance.

I think this recipe might be the ticket she's looking for, for several reasons.

First off, this recipe uses halibut. Halibut is an awesome fish to serve to fish-phobes, because it doesn't have any yucky bones or skin on it and it's got a clean, mild, very un-fishy flavor. Consider halibut the Gateway Fish.

Second, the fish is coated in crispy crumbs and then quickly pan fried. Put a crispy coating on any kind of protein and you're ahead of the game. Just ask chicken nuggets.

Third, there's yummy little sauce to finish things off and add a little zip. It makes things a little more interesting and is yet close enough to old Tartar sauce that it shouldn't seem scary. Although if you hate cilantro, feel free to use regular Tartar sauce.

And finally? It's one of the most beloved staff favorites from Cooking Light magazine. This recipe received the magazine's highest rating, and that's got to count for something!



Cornflake-Crusted Halibut with Chile-Cilantro Aioli
from Cooking Light Magazine
serves 4

Aioli:
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons reduced-fat or fat-free mayonnaise
1 serrano or jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
1 garlic clove, minced

Fish:
1 cup lowfat or fat-free milk
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
2 cups cornflakes, finely crushed (I used Total)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
dash cayenne pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 (6-ounce) halibut fillets*
4 lemon wedges

To prepare aioli, combine cilantro, mayonnaise, serrano, and minced garlic. Stir well.

To prepare fish, combine milk and egg white in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Combine cornflakes, flour, salt and pepper in another shallow dish.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Dip fish in milk mixture, and then dredge in cornflake mixture. Add the fish to pan, and cook 4 minutes on one side. Flip fish and cook 4 more minutes, or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Serve with a lemon wedge and aioli on the side.

* If, like me, you can't find decent halibut on market day, substitute any mild white fish, like cod or snapper.

We enjoyed this fish! The girls even ate it, but dipped in ketchup. They wanted NO part of that freaky looking aioli. But they won't eat tartar sauce, either, so that wasn't a shocker.

Ambrosia, I've got a couple more recipes coming up for you, so if this one doesn't float your boat, no worries. There's hope for fish yet.