Ceviche

I don't often cook Mexican, but when I do, like today, it proves rewarding- the ingredients that are used in it's cuisine often add instant flavour and are so quick and refreshing to cook. This recipe is one of many light meals I plan to cook to make as much room as possible for the chocolate and turkey on Christmas day (I do not plan to hold back eating anything on the big day) so it is simply cool cold fish mixed with lots of herbs and vegetables and some light tortilla chips to serve.

Ceviche itself is firm-fleshed white fish (in this case Basa and Whiting) chopped into pieces and somehow cooked in acid. It looks cooked, but retains a fresh taste and texture that you wouldn't notice had the fish been baked in an oven. It is great to serve at a party as finger food, a starter, or as the meal like it is here.

1)Chop 500g fish fillets into very small chunks. The whiting wasn't skinned in my case, so I used my offensively lazy shortcut of cutting it, slicing the flesh, not going through the skin and then tearing off chunks of meat. It's pretty satisfying. Then, sprinkle it well with about two teaspoons of rock or sea salt and leave it while you prepare the other ingredients. It's good to leave it in salt as it draws out moisture and already starts to tenderise it, and opens it up to more flavours. Chop the stalks of a big bunch of coriander (cilantro as you may know it by), you want the stalks here and leaves later to get a big boost of flavour and it seems a massive waste to just use the leaves. Mix it with the fish with about a teaspoon of garlic powder (or just a minced clove of garlic) and cover entirely with lime juice in a shallow dish. You could use a bottle of bought lime juice, but squeezing fresh limes (you'll need about 4 depending on the dimensions of your dish) gives a much better flavour and those little cells of pulp add great intensity to the finished dish. Cover the dish in cling film and leave out for around 10-15 minutes, whether you want the fish almost sashimi-like, medium rare or well cooked will depend on how long you leave it. 

2)After 45 minutes, remove it from the fridge and drain the fish of the lime juice. Return to the dish and combine with deseeded and finely chopped confetti of red chilli, the finely chopped leaves of coriander, a bunch of chopped fresh basil and two finely sliced spring onions. Although I don't wholly agree with cooking spring onions in place of large white ones, I do always use them in place of large ones raw, as they are so much more palatable. As well as this, roughly chop a handful of black olives which add nice colour contrast and sweetness. My favourite way to chop an avocado, is to run the knife around the whole thing vertically, twisting both halves, removing the pip, and then slicing them vertically by horizontally not through the skin, then using a spoon to disembowel the flesh. It adds great volume, plus extra richness and meatiness. 

3)Combine your chopped veg with your fish, plus a pinch more salt and caster sugar for balance, and to bring everything together with gloss, about two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Serve piled onto a tortilla chip or with a pile of paprika spiked cous cous for a fabulous no-cook dinner.