Note: I attended a tasting of Ripe Life Wines at Spring Lake Seafood and received additional bottles of Ripe Life Wine in order to make this Homemade Ceviche. Opinions are mine alone.
Before I go into the Homemade Ceviche recipe, I want to highlight a wine company that I recently tried and love. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I went to a wine tasting of Ripe Life Wines at Spring Lake Seafood in Spring Lake, NJ. I was given the opportunity to try a bunch of Ripe Life Wines’ selection paired with delicious food offerings of Spring Lake Seafood.
Ripe Life Wines grew from owner Mary McAuley’s desire to create the perfect wine for a clambake, and the Clambake Unoaked Chardonnay was born. The company now offers its Clambake Unoaked Chardonnay, a Clambake Rosé, a seafood-friendly red called Fisherman’s Red, and Moules Blanc de Blancs Brut, a dry American sparkling wine.
You can pop into Spring Lake Seafood in Spring Lake, NJ or Dock and Claw in Beach Haven, NJ to enjoy a tasting. To see my experience at Spring Lake Seafood, including the yummy food pairings, you can see that here and here.) The food and win pairings really are not to be missed!
For this post, I wanted to highlight Ripe Life Wines’ OG. The Clambake Unoaked Chardonnay. Chardonnay is commonly “oaked,” in which the wine is aged in oak barrels, resulting in flavors of butter, vanilla, or caramel. Unoaked Chardonnay, like the Clambake Chardonnay, is instead aged in stainless steel barrels, resulting in a lighter, crisp, clean finish that doesn’t compete with the delicate flavors of seafood. Clambake Chardonnay has a lovely lemon/apple/pear flavor to it, making it the perfect accompaniment to both raw seafood dishes, and richer seafood dishes such as lobster and clams with drawn butter.
As soon as I had my first sip of the Clambake Chardonnay, I knew I wanted to try to pair it with a homemade ceviche.
Ceviche, originating in South America, is a dish consisting of diced raw seafood that has marinated in acid (typically lime juice) to “cook” the seafood. The seafood is then mixed with onions, cilantro, and other ingredients to create a colorful and flavorful dish. Although homemade ceviche can sound a little intimidating, it’s actually really easy to make at home! My knife skills aren’t great, so if yours aren’t as well, the recipe will turn out just fine.
Ingredients (serves 4 as an appetizer):
- 1 Fresno pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- 16 oz halibut, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 avocado, chopped
- 1 peach, chopped
- 3/2 cup cilantro, minced
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice (2-3 limes)
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (~4 oranges)
- corn tortilla chips, for serving
Start by roasting your pepper in the oven. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Add the fresno pepper to a cookie sheet and drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt.
When your oven has preheated, add the cookie sheet to the oven and roast for about 5 minutes, or until the pepper wilts a bit. Remove from the oven and let cool.
When cool, deseed the pepper, then finely chop.
Cut your halibut into bite-sized pieces. Add to a plastic or glass bowl. Cover and refrigerate.
Prepare the avocado, peach, and cilantro and add to a small bowl. Add your finely chopped fresno pepper to the bowl as well.
Drizzle with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, then lightly salt, stirring gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate.
In another small bowl, add the red onion, lime juice, orange juice, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, whisking until the salt has dissolved in the mixture.
Pour the juice mixture over the halibut pieces, gently stirring to coat the fish.
You’ll see it immediately begin to become more opaque / white. Cover and return to your fridge for at least 15 minutes, but no more than 25 minutes.
Remove the halibut from the fridge and gently stir in the other ingredients. Season with salt to taste.
Serve with tortilla chips and a glass of Ripe Life Wines Clambake Chardonnay.
Ceviche is usually served as an appetizer, but my husband and I have been enjoying this as our dinner on hot summer nights.
The crisp finish of the Clambake Chardonnay is a really nice complement to the homemade ceviche, and actually helps to enhance the flavors of the peach and avocado in the dish.
Homemade Ceviche
Ingredients
- 1 Fresno pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 teaspoon salt divided
- 16 oz halibut cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 avocado chopped
- 1 peach chopped
- 3/2 cup cilantro minced
- 1/4 cup red onion finely chopped
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice 2-3 limes
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice ~4 oranges
- corn tortilla chips for serving
Instructions
- Start by roasting your pepper in the oven. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Add the fresno pepper to a cookie sheet and drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- When your oven has preheated, add the cookie sheet to the oven and roast for about 5 minutes, or until the pepper wilts a bit. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- When cool, deseed the pepper, then finely chop.
- Cut your halibut into bite-sized pieces. Add to a plastic or glass bowl. Cover and refrigerate.
- Prepare the avocado, peach, and cilantro and add to a small bowl. Add your finely chopped fresno pepper to the bowl as well.
- Drizzle with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, then lightly salt, stirring gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate.
- In another small bowl, add the red onion, lime juice, orange juice, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, whisking until the salt has dissolved in the mixture.
- Pour the juice mixture over the halibut pieces, gently stirring to coat the fish.
- You’ll see it immediately begin to become more opaque / white. Cover and return to your fridge for at least 15 minutes, but no more than 25 minutes.
- Remove the halibut from the fridge and gently stir in the other ingredients. Season with salt to taste.
- Serve with tortilla chips and a glass of Ripe Life Wines Clambake Chardonnay.
What do you think?