What In The World Is Aguachile?

 

If, like me, you're a lover of fish and seafood in their near-raw state, it's possible you've heard of aguachile. No? Then it's possible you've had it under the guise of ceviche, seafood carpaccio or pickled sashimi, but the truth is, it may have been closer to aguachile. What is aguachile, exactly? Well, it means "chili water" and I think of it as the spicy, tart cousin of ceviche, the method of cooking where acid cooks seafood in place of heat. In the case of aguachile the star ingredient is only barely permitted to cure in its sour soak before being served icy cold and almost entirely raw. Unlike ceviche, the purpose of aguachile is not to use the acid as a cure, but as a flavoring agent. The acid is either infused or in some cases blended with chiles for a spicy bite that stands up to the ice cold seafood. Sweet rock shrimp and gorgeous diver scallops make perfect foils for aguachile because of their natural sweetness and soft texture. Quality and freshness of ingredients is of the utmost importance when making aguachile, since you will essentially be eating them raw.

Shrimp are typically halved lengthwise, rendering them thin and flat, while scallops can be cut into halves or thirds, and (my favorite) pounded thin, carpaccio-style, if they're large. The main ingredient should essentially be sitting in a puddle of liquid, be it lemon, lime or yuzu, barely covering the protein (as the photo above demonstrates, the lime juice puddle is just barely detectable around the edges of the scallop). The only other necessary ingredients are cilantro, onions and chilies, which depending on your mood or preference can be chopped finely for added crunch, or all blended together like a jalapeño pesto, spooned over the protein. I generally go for the former because I like to savor each ingredient on its own and find the flavors to be cleaner that way.

If you decide to take on aguachile (and I highly suggest you do) I recommend you start by buying the freshest possible shrimp/scallops/fish, at a farmers market if at all possible (these guys actually catch what they're selling and know exactly how long it's been out of the water). Don't feel bad about being picky, and ask the fishmonger if you can smell what you're buying—it should smell of the sea and not at all "fishy". Ask where it's from, and in the case of scallops, if they're "wet" or "dry". Anyone that's tried searing scallops only to end up with a watery pan and no crust was using "wet" scallops, which are soaked in phosphates during transport to help them retain moisture and look like the plump, picture perfect scallops we'd all like to see in the market—not mention add to their weight, and therefore what you paid for them. I've fallen for these plump beauties many a time, and the truth is they'll never form a crust and should be avoided. Always go for "dry" scallops and you won't have a problem with flavor or texture.

Once you're set with ingredients, make sure to keep your proteins refrigerated until you've prepped everything else so they're nice and cold for serving. Squeeze lemons or limes into a container and also keep refrigerated while you chop the remaining ingredients. The scallops in aguachile pictured above are simply sitting in a lime juice bath that marinated on its own with red and green jalapeños, chives in place of onions (because it's spring) and micro cilantro (because...well, my cilantro plant is still tiny). While the spicy-sour mixture chilled in the fridge I got to halving scallops and pounding them thin between two pieces of cling wrap, setting each piece on a plate in one thin layer as I went. When I was done I retrieved the lime mixture from the fridge and poured it over the scallops along with a few fresh sprigs of the cilantro and chives, and served it immediately. It made two very generous portions and could absolutely have been divided into four appetizer portions for entertaining. I like mine extra tart and quite spicy (which is really what it should be) so I made use of any leftover lime mixture by pouring it over my own plate. Here's the simple recipe I made, a great base to start from if you're new to aguachile, but that can easily be expanded upon with spicier peppers, various proteins and a variety of herbs.

Diver Scallops In Aguachile

1/2 lb dry fresh diver scallops, halved lengthwise

1/3 cup lime juice

1 jalapeño, finely minced (I used half a red and half a green for color)

1 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro, divided

1 Tbsp finely chopped chive, divided

salt

1. Combine lime juice, minced jalapeño, half of the cilantro and half of the chive in a small bowl or measuring cup. Refrigerate.

2. Meanwhile, place a scallop half between two pieces of cling wrap and lightly pound flat using a mallet or heavy bottomed pan (they should be 1/8"-1/16" thick). Place on your serving platter or plate. Repeat with all pieces until they are flattened.

3. Pour an equal amount of the refrigerated mixture onto each plate and top with the remaining cilantro and chive. Season lightly with sea salt and serve immediately, or chill for up to 15 minutes before serving (any longer and the scallops will be completely cured and you'll have ceviche). Enjoy!

-Laura 

Beet It

Even though it's not quite here yet, we're fast approaching the culinary dead-zone of winter. In order to avoid the mounting frustrations of only being able to find local organic produce in the shape of tubers and roots, I joined a winter CSA. This of course will not come with the overwhelming bounty of produce that my summer/fall CSA does, so they've filled in the blanks with other products like meat, canned tomatoes, pickled products, cheese, eggs, milk, yogurt and other random goodies. Because there is so much less available this time of year, we only receive our shares once a month instead of once a week. I won't start receiving those shares until about mid-December, but in the meantime I still have some of my old CSA products hibernating in the fridge. You see, after volunteering during the late shift of our final pick-up day, I was able to bring home double the loot. Many people didn't show up, leaving a hefty donation of food for the church where we do our food distribution, in addition to providing those of us volunteering with some extra loot. In addition to sampling the eggs, milk, yogurt and cheese that you can also sign up for (all of which are excellent), I got to take home a few extra pounds of beets, carrots and kale. That all sounded great at the time, but none of these items are all that easy to use day after day (except the kale, which I can eat by the handful).

And as you may have noticed from the lack of posts, I've been dealing with trying to cook with these vegetables all week. I've already roasted beets for pasta (see previous post) and roasted a whole chicken on a bed of gorgeous red fall carrots, which made for a really full-flavored gravy. I've made crispy kale on multiple occasions, not to mention my old standby of super garlicky kale with heaps of spicy red pepper flake and a dash of cider vinegar. By the end of last week I hit a root vegetable wall, not quite sure what to do with what was left. The beets had finally reached a ridiculous size, coming in at almost the size of my head. The carrots weren't as large but I still had three bags worth piling up in the fridge. After doing a bit of searching I found a recipe for (how convenient!) beet and carrot latkes. After reading reviews of the recipe it was suggested by almost everyone that while the latkes themselves were good, they were even better accompanied by a spicy apple-jalapeño salsa. Absolutely loving latkes, I was sold.

The first thing I did do was change up almost all of the spices and serving sizes. I'm a big fan of reading the recipe reviews on any website or blog (which is why I appreciate every single comment I get here), and Epicurious is no different. It seemed unanimous that both recipes made an overwhelming amount of food, so I immediately cut the recipes down by a third. It was also mentioned that the beet latkes were a bit bland, so I added in some more spices. As for the carrot latkes, I'm not a huge fan of cooked carrots and tend to get easily bored with them. But I love the way carrots are prepared at Indian restaurants, so I reduced the amount of ginger the recipe called for and threw in some curry powder (I only wish I'd had curry paste on hand) and a little cayenne for a spicy kick. I didn't change the salsa one bit, as it sounded like a simple stunner of a recipe (and it was). One thing I wish I'd done differently is to have used my food processor to shred the beets and carrots instead of doing it by hand on my cheese grater. While the recipe didn't take too long to prepare, the whole thing would have come together in under 45 minutes had I taken a little technological help. Here's what I finally came up with, but if you'd like to feed an army, the original recipes can be found here and here, as they appeared originally in Bon Appétit and Gourmet respectively.

Curried Carrot Latkes
adapted from Gourmet

3 cups coarsely grated carrots
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
canola or vegetable oil for frying

Place carrots in a large bowl; press with paper towels to absorb any moisture. In another large bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and pepper to blend. Mix in carrots, ginger, curry and cayenne, followed by the egg.

Heat enough oil in a large skillet to coat the bottom. Working in batches and adding more oil as needed, drop carrot mixture by the heaping tablespoon into skillet and spread into discs. Fry until golden, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer latkes to a paper towel covered plate to absorb excess oil. Serve with apple-jalapeño salsa and sour cream.


Spiced Beet Latkes
adapted from Bon Appétit

3 cups coarsely shredded peeled beets
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Place beets in large bowl; press with paper towels to absorb any moisture. In another large bowl, whisk flour and next 7 ingredients. Mix in beets, then the egg.

Heat enough oil in a large skillet to coat the bottom. Working in batches and adding more oil as needed, drop beet mixture by the heaping tablespoon into skillet and spread into discs. Fry until golden, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer latkes to a paper towel covered plate to absorb excess oil. Serve with apple-jalapeño salsa and sour cream.


Apple, Green Onion and Jalapeño Salsa
adapted from Bon Appétit

1 1/2 pounds Fuji apples (about 3 large), peeled, halved, cored
1/2 cup minced green onions
2 tablespoons minced seeded jalapeño chiles
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons lemon zest

Finely dice apples and transfer to a bowl. Whisk lemon juice, honey, and lemon zest in small bowl to blend; mix into apples. Season salsa to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and chill until ready to serve with latkes. Enjoy!

-Laura