Say "Ceviche"

I don't want to make my New England friends and family feel worse about the weather, so if you want to skip this post and save it for some hot, summery day- fine with me.

The glory days of Portland are here: brilliant sun; deep cerulean skies; flowers blooming; birds singing; trees and grass still lushly green; long, slow, golden evenings. Aaaaahhhhhhh. Well, today and the days that follow the temperatures are predicted to go up and up. Right now at Alder Street the thermometer reads 94 degrees.

Wondering what to make for dinner the other evening I thought "ceviche!" and immediately wondered why I don't make it more often. Anyone who loves seafood will enjoy it, and it absolutely could not be more perfect for a hot summer day. All you need is the raw seafood (almost anything works), lime juice and whichever herbs, vegetables and/or seasoning you fancy.

That evening I just got some rockfish and shrimp. After marinating in the lime juice for an hour I added a diced tomato, lots of fresh cilantro, fresh chiles, s & p and EVOO. Done! I'm making it again tonight and I doing salmon, scallops and shrimp. I'll toss some fresh avocado over it just before serving.

Several years ago I was chatting with the 7-year old nephew of a friend. His father was from Ecuador and the boy would visit during the summer. He mostly enjoyed the his time there, but complained about the food. "All they eat is ceviche!" he said in an exasperated tone, "Ceviche for lunch, ceviche for dinner. They even have it for breakfast. They don't even have milk and cereal!"

Children are idiots.

Solstice dinner

My local farmer's market finally opened for the season. As usual, I didn't go in search of anything specific, but only knew that I wanted to prepare a dinner on the grill.

As with most things related to food, I am a traditionalist. I acknowledge the convenience and cleanliness of of grilling with gas fuel; but seriously- what's the point? I can pretty much get the same end-result skillfully apply high temperatures on my crappy, electric, kitchen range. Therefore, I only use charcoal.

Of course, I have to take my purist's concept up a notch. That means I never use traditional charcoal briquettes unless there is absolutely nothing else available. I find mesquite charcoal is readily available and I just love the uber-smoky flavor it imparts. It also reminds me of my years, long ago, married to a chef/restauranteur and the mesquite grill we had in the kitchen. I fondly remember the to food biz, though not the marriage...

Another one of my my strict grilling rules is no lighter fluid. I can always detect that petroleum/chemical taste in the food and it is disgusting and just wrong, wrong, wrong. It is so easy to start a fire with newspaper, grape cuttings, applewood, or cherry wood kindling. If you are that concerned with convenience, why even bother with cooking with fire? Just put it in the microwave, press a button and be done with it.

At the market I found some new, emerald green zucchinis, sweet English peas and bunches of multi-colored baby carrots. I picked up a whole trout at Zupan's for the main course. Lisa had given me bunches of fresh basil and Swiss chard from her garden. At home I had my own home-grown fava beans and tons of herbs with which I made a pasta and dinner came together beautifully.

Summer Solstice Dinner

Grilled Trout stuffed w/Swiss Chard, Scallions & Lemon

Grilled Baby Carrots & Zucchini

Pasta Salad with Favas, Peas, Shallots w/fresh herbs & Creme Fraiche