Ceviche tostada in the City

This weekend is one of those rare weekends where I am pager-free, errand-free, and Salvadoran-free. Mijo had to go across the Bay to visit his mom so after our short trip to the farmers market to have breakfast and shop for the week's essentials early in the morning, I had the entire day to myself. I went to the tennis courts to practice serving for half an hour, took a shower, and went to the library to pick up the photography books I requested online.
Since the man of the kitchen is gone for the day, I thought of preparing a little something something for my snack slash late lunch that is light but doesn't require a lot of cooking. I made something close to what is called a ceviche tostada, something that I learned from the Salvadoran. The good thing about being with someone from a different background, that is, from a Latin American heritage, I not only immerse myself with the Spanish language, I also get to adapt my taste buds to their rich cuisine.
At least, this is how my version went.

Corn tortilla. Start by toasting this thin shell made of corn. This is commonly called corn tortilla or plainly a tostada. It usually comes in several varieties depending on the corn used to make the tortilla.
I used the yellow corn variety that is already crunchy so all I have to do is lightly toast it in the convection oven.



Ceviche. Put the ceviche on top of the tostada. Ceviche is a dish generally served in coastal Latin American restaurants, is made of raw fish marinated in lime juice.

For this snack, I used sea bass since I needed a white fish meat that does not smell too fishy. The meat of this fish gets silky as it cooks in lime which is perfect for ceviche.



Tomato Salsa. For Latin American food connoisseurs, this is called pico de gallo. In California, this is plainly called salsa.
For this dish, I diced two medium sized ripe tomatoes that I bought from the farmers market. One small onion, diced. Sprigs of cilantro or chinese parsley, chopped. One small lemon, juiced. Salt and pepper to taste.


Guacamole. This is just another name for avocado. This fruit adds that creamy texture to Latin American food.
For this recipe, I used a medium sized ripe avocado. The one I got from the farmers market is a variety that stays green even when ripe. Serve it mashed, squeeze a small lemon and add two tablespoons of the tomato salsa to add color.



Viola!
Add tabasco hot sauce, salt and pepper as condiment. For this one, I used a Chili oil made of sesame seed to add that Asian twist into this Latin American comfort food.
Buen provecho!



~rl