The Lush Chef

Libations used: 1/4 cup tequila...
Libations left over: How about making a Blood Orange & Thyme Paloma to go with this ceviche...
The heat wave has continued in LA, and it just really discourages me from cooking anything, but I've been the fortunate beneficiary of a lot of fresh fish from a friend.  He's been catching boatloads this past summer off the coast of Alaska, Mexico and California and sharing his catches with his friends.  A few weeks ago, I used some of his fresh fish for this Miso-Glazed Halibut, so this week, it was time to make use of all the Yellowtail I had on hand. This ceviche from AllRecipes, was a perfect end-of-summer recipe with plenty of mango and tequila, and since I'm a sucker for avocado, I added some of that in there too!  You can't go wrong with a quick ceviche for parties, and you certainly won't be slaving away at the stove.  Serve this with tortilla chips, or devour it on it's own.  Either way, you'll be satisfied and hogging the whole bowl.

Yellowtail, Mango & Avocado Ceviche - serves 6
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs of skinless, boneless yellowtail (or halibut), cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
• 1/3 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup tequila (I used Patrón Silver)
• 3 jalapeños, seeded and minced (use 1 or 2 if you can't handle the heat, but the citrus really mellows it out)
• 2 mangos, peeled, seeded and diced into 1/2-inch cubes, reserving half for the inital ceviche preparation
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 avocados, chopped in 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt, to taste

- In a non-reactive bowl (i.e. glass, plastic, ceramic), combine the yellowtail, lime and lemon juices, tequila, jalapeño, and 1/2 of the chopped mango.
- Cover and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours.
- Add the green pepper, sweet and red onions and mix well.
- Cover and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.
- Gently fold in the rest of the mango, avocado, cilantro and parsley.
- Season with salt, to taste, before serving.