Cevishe - Marinated raw cod

Cod is an excellent choice when it comes to marinating in lime or lemon juice. The meat is in a tender white color, pure and plain, without a high percentage of fat or muscles, which you would have to pull out between your teeth. The structure of the fibers is firm enough to hold its shape whilst being treated with acidic juices, but still not so out-of-shape like a sponge, which would just glide down your throat. You marinade a raw fish, when you want to contain the primary taste of the meat. If the fish is 3 or 4 days old, the juice will heighten the taste of a 3-4 day old fish. So fresh fish is key to this simple, yet delicate, recipe, so let’s start this dish with the freshest and best fish possible.  

For 4 starters:

• 2 cod filets (about 40 dag of pure meat)
• 4 limes or 2 bigger lemons
• 1 smaller red or any other sweet-tasting onion
• 1 ripe avocado
• 4 smaller hot chili peppers (with a full fruity flavor, like a jalapeño, for instance)
• A handful of fresh rocket, young spinach or coriander for decoration

  Prepare the cod filets Put the filets on a chopping board and, with pinchers, carefully remove all of the fish bones. You can help yourself by gently touching the meat, especially in the front end and at the chest part, where there are more bones present. If you buy a filet with the skin on, also remove the skin. Cut the cleaned meat in 2cm wide stripes, which you cut again into smaller, bite-size parts. Be careful not to cut them too small, because they will take on the acidic juices and will not have their primary taste anymore, because the outer parts will be sourer than the inner parts. Prepare the other ingredients Cut the onion into stripes and these again into smaller cubes (the onion has to be so big, you can feel it between your teeth when you bite them). Clean the chili peppers and cut these into stripes, and cut these again into cubes. Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed and scrape the inner meat of the vegetable with a large spoon. Cut the limes and press out the juice. Marinate Take all the prepared ingredients and carefully mix them with each other and salt everything at the end. Pour the juice onto the mixture, mix gently again, put into an air-tight container and put this in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve Get one bigger or 2 smaller soup plates (or bowls) to serve the dish in. On the bottom of the plates first put some rocket leaves or spinach leaves and put the marinated cod on them, together with the juice and the vegetables. Decorate everything with fresh coriander leaves and serve immediately, together with some good white bread and a glass of white wine. Wine pairing A mineral and super cold dry white wine is the best decision with marinated cod. The taste of the dish is potent, strong, fearless, and the mission of the wine is it to cleanse the pallet and to make it ready for another round of the dish. Kind of like wasabi, which cleanses the pallet after a bite of sushi. Sparkling wines with a low level of sugar are also perfect for this job. Italians will choose Prosecco or Glero, the French Champagne, the Spanish Cavo. The more adventurous souls will choose a dry Risling from Germany and Alsace, Austrians will pour a really dry and spicy wines of the sort Gruner Veltliner, from the wine region Weinviertel. The Italians will show pride and serve a grey Pinot from the north, our Slovenian wine growers will hold on to the acidic and flavorful Rumena Rebula, but Slovenians from the Štajerska region will probably choose Šipon. You can discover another world of flavors with a fruity and pure white Sauvignon or with a more elegant Chardonnay.