Red Snapper Ceviche

Yesterday we spent the day fishing in Belize. Cagey, a local fisherman, took us out for the day on his small boat and we hit all his top fishing spots. I’d really hoped to catch a tuna and we nearly did. We had a barracuda on the line that broke away and even managed to bend the hook in the process. He then hooked a big tuna, but with the bent hook it wriggled itself free. We did well regardless and came away with nine fish including red snapper, barracuda, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel.

At day’s end we kept a barracuda, mackerel and red snapper and gave Cagey the rest to take home. He skinned and filleted our fish for us; half we took to our local restaurant and they prepared it for us, the other half we brought home to cook ourselves.

Our kitchen facility is about as bare bones as you can get, but for what we had in mind it was perfect. We decided to prepare a red snapper ceviche, and barracuda and mackerel cooked in the microwave with a mango chutney (no stovetop and no oven, so microwave it was).

We made the ceviche with plenty of lime juice, and finely chopped onion, tomato, cilantro, cucumber, green pepper and half a habanero pepper. A little salt and black pepper. We marinated the red snapper for just under two hours and it was perfect.

The mango chutney was prepared with finely chopped mango, onion, cilantro and the other half of the habanero pepper and lime juice. Again, a little salt and black pepper.

We purchased some freshly made corn chips; perfect with both the fish dishes, and for scooping up the leftover sauces. To drink, the local Belizian beer, Belikin; for dessert, some freshly picked tangerines, all served by candlelight on our porch overlooking the Caribbean Sea.