I love tangy, citrus, herb flavors when cooking fish. It's the perfect summer flavor profile and you can use it on every type of fish! For this recipe I used Sitka Salmon Shares sablefish. The sablefish has the nickname "butter fish" due to its soft texture. It's not a fish that gets more solid or tougher when cooking making it the absolute perfect fish to use when making aguachile or ceviche!
The great thing about recipes like ceviche or aguachile is that the acid from the lemon and limes juices will actually lightly cook your fish. So your fish is technically cooked, but perceived as raw since no heat was actually applied to it. Both aguachile and ceviche are prepped pretty similarly. Aguachile translates to "chili water." Chilis are blended with water to create the base. Then the marinade is tossed with cucumber, onions, lime juice, and your fish then served immediately. Ceviche marinates for 15-20 minutes allowing the lemon juice to really soak into your fish.
The process I used combines a little bit of both.
Aguachile has been deemed a summer staple recipe, but I don't see why you can't enjoy it during the "R" months. Prep with shrimp, scallops, or any white fish that it's in season!
Sablefish are found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean from northern Mexico to the Gulf of Alaska. This fish is delivered with the Sitka Salmon Shares Premium seafood box during May and November.
Ingredients:
Aguachile Marinade:
1 filet of sablefish, or any white fish, shrimps, or scallops
1 cup of lime juice, fresh
generous pinch salt
1 white vinegar
1 cup water, to cover
1 garlic clove
2 jalapeños, sliced (or serano chilis)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 of a red onion, very thinly sliced (I used a pickled red onion, radish, and jalapeno mix that I made, recipe here. In its place, you can soak red onions in a little apple cider vinegar.)
1 whole cucumber, sliced
drizzle olive oil
handful of cilantro
tortilla chips or mini tostadas
avocado, optional
fresh radish, optional
Steps:
1.
I used my pickled veggies for this step, but you can chill 1/2 thinly sliced red onion with a heavy pinch of salt, and vinegar.
2.
Wash your fish, pat dry with a paper towel, and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and squeeze enough lime juice to cover the filet. Let chill while you gather your other ingredients.
3.
Blend together cilantro, peppers, lime juice, garlic and salt. Pour over chilled fish and add drained red onions, garnish with more cilantro, cucumber, and avocado.
Eat with tortilla chips, tortillas, or rice. Add a dollop of sour cream!
