Ceviche with Tostones Appetizer

By no means are we chefs or even know what we are doing, but this is our first take on one of our favorite foods...ceviche. With dozens of surf trips to the Caribbean and Central America, one of the things that becomes a staple is getting out of the surf, ordering a cold beer, and some fresh ceviche. Caught just moments before is the freshest seafood you will ever eat. So for the nostalgia factor, we gave it a go. The good part is that it's pretty hard to mess up and the tostones idea was on a whim because we came across them at the local market and decided it would be a good pair.

You don't necessarily need all the different peppers, but our local market was running a special on variety packs of sweet bell peppers so we went a little overboard with them. The peppers add to the color and presentation. A good thing about ceviche is you can have just a few ingredients or go crazy. Also, most ceviche is made with fish but at that moment, there weren't any fresh-looking saltwater white fish ready to go so we decided on fresh shrimp. If you decide to use fish in your ceviche it should have red to pink gills, clear eyes, and smell like the ocean, not fishy. Stay away form oily or freshwater fish. If nothing falls into that category, fresh shrimp are always a safe bet.

Our Ingredients:
1lb Peeled and deveined Shrimp
1 Red pepper
1 Green pepper
1 Yellow pepper
1 Orange pepper
1 Bunch of Scallions
1 Red onion
​3 Jalepenos 
1 Bunch of cilantro
2 Avocados
5 Limes
2 Lemons
​1 Cucumber
10 Grape tomatoes 
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce
​1 Cup Apple Vinegar
1 Box of Goya tostones scoops
​

To keep the ceviche crisp and fresh, start by peeling, deveining, and cutting the shrimp into small thin pieces. In a bowl separate from the veggies, combine the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, 3 of the limes, 2 lemons, and the shrimp. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 25 minutes, making sure all shrimp are submerged in the liquid. Most recipes call for it all to be made at once, but this method keeps the veggies crisp and prevents them from overcooking in the acidic brine.

Once the shrimp are in the refrigerator marinating, start on the veggies. Shrimp will turn from a whitish grey to a pink when cooked in the acidic mix.

Next, chop all of the veggies roughly the same size and slightly smaller than the shrimp.

Bake the tostones at 400 degrees, for 30 min. It says to fry them, but the baking was simple and less greasy.

Drain the liquid out of the shrimp bowl and dump in the veggies and mix. Top with the remaining limes.

Scoop generous portions into the mini tostones bowls and you're ready to serve.

Overall we were stoked with the outcome. Easy to make and not too time consuming, especially if you have someone helping. The cool thing is the endless possibilities and that many countries have their own take, but for the most part grab whatever veggies you like paired with your favorite seafood addition and it is pretty hard to go wrong.