Ceviche

Ceviche is a citrus marinated seafood dish, fresh and spicy, with no cooking required. In the Philippines we have a version called "kinilaw", and my father makes a mean spicy version, either with fish (usually fresh giant anchovies - we would get a kilo from the wet market, and I'd get the task of painstakingly deboning each and every one of them! But well worth the effort!) or even boiled pork tossed in a similar acidic marinade (like vinegar, something like this)

This one is made with john dory fillets, a mixture of lemon and lime juice, the zests were also used. I cannot recount the quantities used for this (it's a secret...not!), as I just measured them by eye and depends on the amount of fish (usually white fleshy fish). The goal is to have a perfect balance of citrus flavors, heat and spice (depending on your tolerance). Bits of minced cucumber counteract the heat and citrus as well. I used minced bird's eye chili and red chili, minced garlic, a bit of spanish onion and brown onion (also minced), and chopped coriander to finish.

the minced aromatics and the fish

refreshing!

The fish was sliced into thin slivers. The acid in the citrus actually cooks the fish, and since the fish was sliced thinly the 'cooking process' just took around 7-10 minutes - you can tell by the way the flesh of the fish is not longer translucent.

This was actually served as a fishy Saturday treat alongside yellowfin tuna sashimi, sake and (obviously homemade irregularly rolled) cucumber sushi rolls

[rolling those sushi rolls made me recall one of the best japanese restaurants IMHO - Jamon Sushi - a must try!!! A bit pricey, but with good reason - this place is not for the conventional nor play-by-the-rules person, because once you sit down in one of the 18 seats in this intimate setting, the best way to go is to leave it to the hands of the chef and you will never regret it.]