Recipe: Halibut Ceviche

Ceviche is one of my all-time favourite things to make. It's delicious, healthy, easy, fresh, summery, and always a crowd pleaser. Last night I arrived back home from a trip to London, England to visit my cousin and a couple of locals. We went to Borough Market and the idea struck me to put together some ceviche for the group. It was a big hit. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 boneless fillet of fresh halibut

5 vine tomatoes

1/2 a medium sized red onion

2 red chilies 

2 cloves of garlic

1 small handful of fresh cilantro

1 lime

1 lemon

Salt & Pepper (to taste) 

Method:

If your halibut fillet has skin, carefully slice it off and discard. Dice into small pieces (about one centimetre squares). Place your fish pieces into a bowl or casserole dish and douse with the fresh squeezed juice of the lemon and the lime. The zest of both can also be used if you desire. Toss the pieces of fish in the lemon and lime juice until thoroughly coated and reserve in the fridge. Let sit for at least 30 minutes for the acid to denature the fish.

Remove the seeds from the tomatoes and dice along with the onion, chilies, garlic, and cilantro. Combine in a large bowl.

Once the fish is denatured, combine with the other diced ingredients and toss thoroughly until the mixture is well combined. Add Salt and Pepper.

Your ceviche at this point is good to eat but personally I think it's best when left in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving. The flavours are much better when left to mingle and get to know each other for a while. Serve with corn tortilla chips, toasty bread, plantain chips, or as a topping for thick slices of cucumber.

This recipe will feed 4 as an appetizer or 2 as a meal. Enjoy!

Optional Steps:

You can also incorporate either a few chopped, spicy marinated green olives (pitted) or 1/4 of fresh pineapple (diced) into the ingredient list. Olives will produce a brinier, more savoury dish and pineapple will produce a sweeter, tropical dish.