I recently took a hard hat tour of the new Culinary Institute of America at the Pearl (see “my blog”:/tanjis-tanjents/2010/06/14/hard-hats-soon-to-be-chefs-hats/ in Tanjents). _This is going to be an incredible place!_ The prestigious cooking school’s goal is to elevate Latin Cuisine to its rightful place among great cuisines of the world. Latin Cuisine Specialist Elizabeth Kossick was one of my tour guides. She shared this incredible recipe for Peruvian Ceviche. Elizabeth says the choclo (Peruvian corn kernels) can be purchased at “Las Americas” on San Pedro. She says this is a must – DO NOT use sweet corn because the acidity and heat of this dish needs to be balanced by the starch of the Peruvian corn.
Instructions
1. Remove any discolored flesh and bones from the fish.
2. Cutting with the grain of the fish, dice the fish into small cubes.
3. Place the fish in a bowl and season generously with salt. Toss the fish with the salt for several minutes to release the natural juices from the fish. Add the rinsed red onion and the habanero chile and continue tossing to season the fish. Set the ceviche in an ice bath to maintain freshness.
4. In a separate bowl, squeeze the limes for the ceviche, taking care not to over squeeze the limes (squeeze only half way). Season the lime juice with sugar and salt to taste.
5. Combine all the leche de tigre ingredients in a blender and pulse several times. Pour through a fine mesh sieve and press the juice out of the sieved mixture. Chill over ice until ready to serve.
6. Arrange the ceviche, sweet pototo, choclo, and cancha on indidivual plates. Once ready to serve, pour the leche de tigre through a strainer over the ceviche. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro.
Note: If fresh ají limo is available please substitute for the habanero chile.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 lb. Flounder (freshest possible)
- Sea salt to taste
- 2 Red Habanero chiles, seeds and veins removed, julienne
- 2 cups Red onion, halved, thinly sliced, rinsed in cold water
- Salt to taste
Leche de Tigre
- 2 inch Ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves Garlic, germin removed, finely diced
- 4 Celery stalks, peeled, finely diced
- 4 cups Mexican limes, freshly squeezed
- 1/4 cup Flounder, cubed
- 2 cups Red onion, finely sliced, rinsed in cold water
- 1 pinch Dried Bonita fish flakes
- 2 Red Habanero chiles, seeds and veins removed, roughly chopped
- 1/2 bunch Cilantro stems, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp. Sea salt
- White pepper, finely ground to taste
Garnish
- 1 lb. Sweet potato, boiled or steamed, skin on, al dente, cut into small dice
- 1 cup frozen Choclo (Peruvian corn kernels) – blanched, kept at room temperature
- 1/4 cup Cancha (toasted Peruvian corn)
- 1/4 cup Cilantro leaves
