On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I had the great pleasure of tasting a few typical dishes from this country. We rented a house in very quaint, small surfer town called Samara and the lady housekeeper, Margarita, also happened to be an incredible cook. This incredibly generous and kind soul not only insisted on cooking us delicious meals, mostly fish like red snapper, grouper or sea bass, she also agreed to share with me some of her recipes ?!!
Look at this beautiful fresh piece of marlin!
Super fresh marlin fish
This is one dish that we ate again and again. Honestly, I don’t think I could ever get tired of it, as it is so fresh, healthy and delicious!? Of course, it did help that there was a lime tree directly on the property and she would use those freshly harvested limes in her recipe.
Beautiful lime tree, right in the backyard!
Freshly harvested limes
I find that using the freshest ingredients always makes a huge difference in the final result. However, living in a cold weather country, we have to contend with limes from the supermarket and I assure you that they do a totally fine job too ?!
So, directly from Costa Rica, here is Margarita’s simple, yet absolutely fantastic, ceviche recipe. Enjoy ?!!
- - 1 kg (2lbs) super fresh marlin, sea bass or grouper, diced
- - 2 tbsp salt (to brine)
- - Juice of 7-8 small limes (about 2/3 cup)
- - 1 small white onion, chopped VERY finely
- - 1 red belle pepper, finely diced
- - 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- - 2/3 cup club soda
- - 1 tbsp sugar
- - 1/2 tbsp salt
- - 1 small jalapeno, unseeded and diced (optional)
- In a bowl, place the diced fish in cold water and add 2 tbsp of salt. Let sit (or "brine") for 2 minutes, then in a colander, drain and thoroughly rinse the fish in cold water. Drain very well.
- Mix all the ingredients together. Refrigerate until ready to eat. I will keep for up to (max) 2 days in the refrigerator.
- I like to serve them with pita chips or crostinis, but it is also very good on its own.
Costa Rican Ceviche is in my opinion the BEST ceviche! It’s hard to replicate it exactly because Cost Rican limes have orange flesh and are slightly sweeter. But, this recipe was excellent! I ended up dicing in a little mango right before eating -just to add a hint of sweetness. I used frozen Costco Sea Bass, and it worked perfectly. I will be making this ALL THE TIME! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much Michelle for this nice comment 🙂
I’ll definitely add some mangoes next time. Great idea!