The following is a guest post from Billy Broas of BillyBrew.com. He writes about craft beer, and truly believes that beer is food. Billy has a great website for all of us beer lovers out there. If there's anything you ever wanted to learn about beer, Billy is "The Man" to learn it from.
Billy has a fantastic recipe for Conch Ceviche he wanted to share… Well, I'll let him get into the details.
Billy, thanks for hooking us up… We can't wait to try this recipe.
Conch Ceviche:
After Brian's video "Exploring The Beer of Uruguay" I had a good understanding of the beer scene in Uruguay. Like most South American countries, its people like their brews light, cold, and refreshing. The main type of beer is lagers, as we beer geeks refer to them, as opposed to their more full bodied cousins called ales.
A good beer + food pairing matches intensities. I chose ceviche not only because it is a tasty South American dish, but because its mild flavor goes well with the mild and refreshing characteristics of the local beer.
For the beer to pair with I would choose the Patricia Lager, a common offering in Uruguay.
So here is the delicious ceviche recipe that I recently prepared. I used conch instead of fish, which is tougher to find but tastes great. Conch takes some slightly different preparation, which I highlighted in italics if you choose to go that route.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. any white fish or conch
- 1/2 cup lime juice (fresh squeezed)
- 1/2 cup lemon juice (same deal as lime, the real stuff)
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 habanero chile, sliced
Procedure:
Place the fish on a cutting board and chop into 1/4-1/2 inch chunks.
– For conch, you will need to pound it flat with a meat tenderizer.
– Make one pass over it, then turn it 90 degrees and pound away for another pass. Turn and pound once more, then chop into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces as you would with fish.
- Put the fish into a bowl or baking dish with the lemon and lime juice and cover.
- Place container in the refrigerator and let sit for at least 3 hours.
– Overnight works well too. That's what we did and it turned out super tender.
- Take the container out, mix in the habaneros, and let sit for another hour.
- Drain the container and put the mixture in a mixing bowl. Add the onion, cilantro, tomato, olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Squeeze about a tablespoon of lime juice over the mixture.
- Place in a bowl and eat with a fork or scoop onto tortilla chips.
Most importantly, grab a cold Patricia Lager to wash it down. The sweetness from the malt does a good job to soothe the acidity from the ceviche.
Cheers!