Monday is market day in Botafogo and recipe for Ceviche

21 Nov

The week starts just the way I like it, with a visit to the small neighborhood market in Rua Vicente de Sousa in Botafogo.  After having been now a regular for the last months, I usually start the round with drinking a fresh Agua de Coco, a coconut water.

The great thing about all the local fresh markets to be found in every quarter of the city on different days of the week is that they all not only sell fresh fruits and vegetables but have fish stalls selling an abundance of the very best and freshest catch of the day ranging from large whole fishes to all kinds of cleaned seafoods (mariscos).

So Mondays usually is the day to prepare a dish with fresh fish or seafood. As today the temperature is finally climbing up towards 30 degrees and it seems that summer is well on its way I’m preparing Ceviche, marinated raw fish originally from Peru but great anywhere where you can get your hands on very fresh fish or seafood.

Ceviche as a starter for 4 persons

  • 400g of very fresh firm fish – I like to use sole (linguado), salmon (salmao, monkfish (tamboril) prawns (camarao) octopus (polvo) and squid (lulas) or any combination of those cut in small cubes.
  • 1 red onion finely diced
  • 1 clove of garlic pressed
  • 1-2 finely dice red chili
  • 2-3 spring onions finely diced
  • 1 red and green pepper finely diced
  • handfull of small red tomatoes finely diced
  • juice of at least 4 limes, around 80-100ml
  • salt, pepper and bunch of fresh coriander for garnish
Combine all the ingredients and mix well for all the fish and/or seafood pieces to be well covered in lime juice. Allow to marinate for 2 hours covered in the fridge. Taste and season with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh coriander. Serve with fresh tortillas or tortilla crisps and some guacamole.
You could add one diced avocado before serving as it gives the Ceviche a richer texture. Great summer food and easy to prepare starter for larger crowds as well.

 

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