June 25th--Sea Bass Ceviche

Dave: It is a hot night in the old town tonight! So, we decided to make a meal that doesn't require igniting a cooking flame: Ceviche!

Lauren: Ceviche is raw, citrus-marinated seafood - the acids in the citrus essentially "cook" the fish by denaturing the proteins. (Cooking with science is awesome!) We've wanted to eat ceviche for, oh, probably going on a year now, so why not make it ourselves? Plus, the fish guy at Whole Foods really sold us on the sustainably-caught sea bass.

Dave: It is nice to know that we aren't adding to the sea bass problem (I'm sorry, is there some kind of land bass I'm not aware of?). We decided to go with the Spanish ceviche recipe, which is more citrus and sweet than the more savory variations popular in South America and Mexico.

I decided to toss in some Haitian mango because we just listened to a "This American Life" about the plight of the Haitian mango farmer.

Lauren: Gotta love a delicious meal that is also socially conscious! We served it with two sides, purple jasmine rice and asparagus cooked in lemon juice and garlic

Scott also helped out on this one by reprising yesterday's margarita recipe, only replacing the quantity of lemon juice with 1/2 lemon, 1/2 lime, and adding grapefruit chunks before blending. It turned out slightly less sweet (good for those who prefer a less sugary margarita).

Juice of one half of one grapefruit

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup lime

One Mango (Haitian)

Lb. of sea bass (Note: marinade is good for 3/4-Lb. to 1 Lb. of sea bass)

Mix lemon juice, lime juice, grapefruit juice and mango in a large glass or ceramic bowl (metal and plastic are not ideal). Cut the sea bass into thin strips with large surface areas. Marinate the sea bass strips in the lemon juice mixture and put in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Cut the rest of the mango into strips and serve with sea bass strips.