Ceviche with Pzazz


Lotty is my very dear friend from Ecuador. She is also my neighbour. Without her warmth I don’t know if I would be able to survive Dutch winters.
Besides being a loving person and good friend, she is also one of the best cooks I know! Of all her dishes I would have say her crab & prawn ceviche ranks #1 by far.

Ceviche is a very popular dish in Bolivia, PerĂº and Ecuador. You can use different types of fish for it.
In South America is it usually served as an appetizer. But glam it up with a couple of side dishes and you have the perfect meal.


I have tried her recipe many times. Now that according to Lotty I have (almost) mastered perfection, I am ready to audition my recipe! Ceviche has become more and more popular around the world, specially in trendy restaurants in cosmopolitan areas. While in Miami last winter, I tried every ceviche I could find on the menu.
I took her recipe but then gave it my own twist. When she tastes mine she tends to shake her head and say 'nope, too much cumin'. But you know, I really love the extra pzazz!

Still, I have to say my friend Lotty makes the very best.



Ingredients
(for 4 to 6 people)

•400g of clean raw prawns (mid size)
•400g of crab meat
•2 medium diced tomatoes (seeds removed)
• a handful of chopped cilantro
•3 hot chili peppers (seeds removed, chopped)
•pinch of Hilamayan pink salt; crushed
•(the juice of) 8 limes
•(the juice of) 1/2 orange
•1 tsp of cumin
•1/4 cup extra virgin oil
•2 medium red onions, chopped
•1 avocado, diced


What you do
•slice the prawns lengthwise in half, and leave them to marinate in a bowl for at least an hour in some salt and cumin;
• then put them in a pan with some water (enough to cover them) and some extra salt;
•once the water reaches boiling point, remove the pan from the heat source immediately and leave the prawns to cool down in the pan;
•in a bowl, chop the red onion, the tomatoes and the red chili peppers;
•add the lime and orange juice;
•add the crab meat (and any water it might release), the prawns and the water you cooked them in;
•add the avocado;
•add the extra virgin oil;
•sprincle a generous amount to fresh cilantro
•cover with some cling foil and put in the fridge

Remarks
•ceviche is best served cold and when the ingredients have had the chance to blend for at least a couple of hours;
•if you cannot find crab meat or you find it too expensive in your area, replace it by (very fresh and very thinly sliced, raw) white fish;
•some of the side dishes you could add are: steamed yams or cassava; cassava chips; fried banana.






Spanish Peppers Stuffed with Cod

One of my favourite Spanish dishes has to be 'Pimientos del Piquillo'. It is a very traditional dish which consists of stuffing char-grilled sweet red peppers from Lodosa (Northern Spain). The red peppers from this region have a particular shape -which makes them easy to stuff without cutting them open. The consistency of the skin is thick and hard and therefore will not tare easy during stuffing.

Unless you live in Spain, it is impossible to find them fresh -only jarred. Given the choice between using the authentic precooked jarred pimientos del piquillo from Spain to your local red peppers, I will no hesitate to choose the latter.

The original recipe calls for cod to stuff them. But if cod is too expensive (or unavailable) in your area, you can actually pick any other white flaky fish instead.

You can make this dish 1 day ahead and reheat. Actually, it will taste better if you do, than if you eat it right ahead.

What you need
•a cooking pot with a lid;
•food processor;
•oven tray;
•oven dish;
•12 tooth picks

Ingredients
(for 6 peppers)
6 red peppers (for stuffing)
•1 red pepper, diced (for sauce)
•300 g of cod
•1 leak, thoroughly cleaned and sliced in thin rings
•80 ml white wine
•80 ml tomate frito
•80 ml water
•fresh parsley
•1 clove of garlic, minced
•freshly grind pepper
•freshly grind Himalayan salt
•1 tbs agave nectar
•2 tbs virgin olive oil

What you do

•start by making the sauce and fry the leak rings in 1 tbs of virgin olive oil and 3 min. later add the diced red pepper. Cook while moving it around with a wooden spoon;
•add the tomate frito and the white wine;
•add some salt and pepper;
•cook for approx. 1 hour at very low heat and in a covered pot; from time to time add some water to keep the sauce runny;
•if necessary, add 1 tbs of agave nectar. Personally I find that, depending on the quality of the pepper you used for the sauce, it might not even be necessary. Taste the sauce and see what your taste buds tell you....
•now that the sauce is cooking, preheat the oven to 195C and when the oven has reached this temperature, wash the red pepers thoroughly with hot water and place 6 in a baking tray (making sure the do not touch each other);
•cook in the middle of the oven for approx. 30 min (look at the picture below to get an idea of how the peppers should look);
•remove the peppers from the oven and let them rest on your kitchen counter till they cool down a bit;
•in the meantime, you could work on the cod stuffing by frying the diced onion and minced garlic in 1 tbs of virgin olive oil and 3 min. later, adding the cod, some salt and pepper. When the cod is almost cooked, cut some parsley on top of it with a scissors. Turn off the heat;
•once the grilled peppers have cooled off, remove the skin. Then, gently cut them in half and removed the stem and seeds;
•stuff the peppers with the cod and close them with toothpicks;
•gently arrange the stuffed peppers in an oven dish;
•now put the sauce in a food processor and blend it smooth;
•over the peppers with it;

Remarks
You can now either wait for everything to cool down, cover the dish with some foil and keep it in the fridge for one or two days or...you can put it back in the oven. Crank the heat to 240C en warm everything up for approx. 15 min. before serving!
Red peppers and in the top 5 of most sprayed vegetable! If possible, buy organic. If not, make sure you was the vegetables very well under piping hot water. That will take a lot of the chemicals of the surface.











Easy Thai Prawns

Living in the Netherlands has given me exposure to great Thai cuisine. And although to some of us it might seem impossible to accomplish a good Thai dish at home, it is easier than you think to get close to the real thing.

Ingredients
will serve 4 to 6 
•4 small onions
•1 kg of raw prawns
•1 tbs of (Pataks's) mild curry paste
•4 medium sized tomatoes, washed
•400 ml of coconut cream
•2 tbs coconut oil
•1 handful of fresh coriander, chopped
•4 Thai basil leaves (preferably fresh)

What you do
•our onions are quite small so I peeled and chopped 4 (adjust the amount depending on how big yours are);
•heat the coconut oil in a big pan (I love using my paella pan); preferably one that looks good enough to bring to the table;
•add the chopped onions and cook in medium heat until translucent;
•add the curry paste and stir till all the herbs in the paste start releasing their wonderful smells (give or take a minute); add the tomatoes, diced
•once the tomatoes are cooked (this might take apron. 5 to 10 minutes), add the coconut cream and the basil leaves
•as soon as the ingredients have come together, add the prawns and let it all simmer for approx. 10 minutes;
•just before the prawns are done (initially grey, their color will turn orange), add the chopped coriander

Remarks
•Serve with something 'neutral', such as steamed yams, celery root or white carrot. I try to avoid rice but I do have it once in a blue moon. Needless to say this dish goes great with it, specially steamed basmati rice!
•'Patak's' is a very well known brand for amazing curry paste.
•If you cannot find Thai basil leaves, try 'regular' basis leaves. Not quite the same, but it comes close....
•if you have the choice, pick coconut cream above coconut 'milk'. But most importantly, make sure it has no 'additives'... It just ruins the healthiness of the products and that is a shame....