Ceviche in Cucumber Cups and My Tour of the CIA

Ceviche in Cucumber Cups and My Tour of the CIA

This very popular Peruvian dish is made with fresh pieces of raw fish (or shellfish) marinated in lime juice, onions and cilantro which slowly causes the fish to “cook”, in very much the same way that heating does. The results are bright and refreshing with an opaque appearance and firmed texture of cooked fish. This dish is also gluten-free, paleo friendly and low-carb.

Lucky for me, that day they happened to be making ceviche in their Americas cooking class and I got to eat it for lunch. I LOVE a good ceviche, and I order it any chance I get when I go out to eat, so I was excited that they shared this recipe with me.

The good news – this is really easy to make and it looks so impressive if you’re having guests over. Their original recipe was made with scallops, but I opted for some fresh Striped Bass which I picked up at my local fish store. You can use any type of ocean fish or shellfish to make ceviche, the only rule of thumb is that it should be as fresh as possible, preferably caught the same day. This would make a wonderful appetizer for Christmas eve if your family likes to have fish. While you can prepare the cucumber cups and the vegetables for the ceviche a few hours ahead, ceviche tastes best when it marinates no more than an hour or two before you serve it.

– both the front and back ends. So during our first night there we

were served by the graduating students, with meals that the students

phenominal. The highlight of my meal was watching the students make ice

cream in 30 seconds with a hand cranked mixer and dry ice – amazing!

If you’re ever in the Hudson Valley, you can go on a group tour and

Ceviche in Cucumber Cups

Adapted from The Culinary Institute of America’s Entertaining Cookbook

Servings: 15 • Size: 2 cups • Old Points: 1 pt • Points+: 1 pt

Calories: 31 • Fat: 1 g • Protein: 4 g • Carb: 2 g • Fiber: 0 g • Sugar: 1 g

Sodium: 16 mg • Cholesterol: 8 mg

8 oz fresh raw fish fillet such as striped bass, finely diced

1 medium seeded tomato, finely diced

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tbsp minced red onion

1/2 jalapeño, minced

1/4 yellow bell pepper, finely diced

1/2  tbsp olive oil

3 drops tabasco sauce

3 tbsp fresh lime, (1 or 2 limes)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, as needed

2 large cucumbers (thirty 1/2-inch-thick slices)

fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine the sea bass, tomato, onion, chopped cilantro, jalapeño, bell

pepper, oil, and Tabasco.

Add the lime juice and toss to coat the fish. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator at least 1 hour depending on the size of the fish cubes, stirring occasionally. Look at the fish and you can see the flesh changing over

time in the marinade, you are looking for a solid appearance in the

flesh vs. an opaqueness all the way through the center of the fish.

Trim the cucumber slices with a round cutter to remove the rind. With a melon baller scoop

out a shallow pocket in the middle of the cucumber slices—do not cut all the way through the

slice.

Just before serving, fill the cucumber cups with the ceviche. Garnish each ceviche cup with a

small dot of sour cream and a cilantro leaf, if desired.

The Culinary Institute of America provided me with travel, lodging,

and a tour of their campus; all opinions expressed in this post are my

own.