Hogfish

Andrea’s Hogfish Ceviche

This is from The Flavors of the Florida Keys by Linda Gassenheimer.

You can tell the fish is really fresh when you walk into the Eaton Street Fresh Seafood Market in Key West. There’s no fish smell. Andrea Morgan did what many lawyers probably wish they could do: retire at a very young age and move to Key West. She and her husband, Sean Santelli, quickly realized that there were very few fresh seafood markets, despite the fact that they were surrounded by bountiful seas filled with some of the best seafood in the world. In fact, they said, 90 percent of the fish caught here is trekked out of Key West. Sean started fishing on his boat, the Outcast, and Andrea started cooking. Hogfish is a beautifully white firm fish caught in deep water. The texture and flavor, when fresh, are amazing. It’s best to assemble the salad just before it is served. Use the freshest fish you can find.

Serves 8

1 orange, freshly squeezed (about 1 cup)
12 limes, freshly squeezed (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
1 pound fresh hogfish (grouper or mahimahi can be used)
1 red bell pepper, diced (about 2 cups)
1 small red onion, diced (about 2 cups)
3 plum tomatoes, diced (about 2 cups)
4 celery stalks, with leaves, diced (about 2 cups)
1 small jalapeño pepper, diced
3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
chopped Tortillas or crackers for dipping

Juice the orange and enough limes to measure 3 cups. Add the salt and hot pepper sauce to the juice and set aside. Cut the hogfish into small, bite-size pieces and let marinate in the citrus juice while chopping the red bell pepper, red onion, tomatoes, celery, and jalapeño pepper. Place the vegetables in a large bowl. Spoon the hogfish and all its liquid into the bowl of vegetables.

Serve after the hogfish and vegetables have marinated for 30 minutes. The hogfish should be opaque white. Just before serving, stir in the white and black pepper and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with tortillas or crackers.

Key Lime Ceviche

A unique method of food preparation, depending completely on lime juice, is ceviche. This is commonly used with fresh fish in Latin America. Raw fish is marinated with ample lime juice for several hours, then seasoned
with fresh chiles, cilantro, tomatoes, and onions. The recipe appears to be of Polynesian origin, but is today
often found along the Pacific coast from México to Perú, and on the Caribbean islands. The trick behind
ceviche is that proteins denaturize in an acidic medium, as they do at high temperatures; therefore, the fish
may be considered ‘cooked’ by the cold but sour lime juice.
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