You may have already noticed the developing pattern of my recent recipes, and if you haven’t I’m sure you soon will. I have been struck with citrus fever; every where I go I see trees full of oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, and more. Unlike my past homesteads where all I saw this time of year was the white snow, and evergreens. There are two inspirations I am following at this moment; the easy affordable supply of fresh citrus and the wide variety of true Spanish ingredients available to me. So for the next while I will be cooking my way through the San Francisco Bay Area, taking common specialities of the area and making them my own. To start I made a vegan Ceviche, I cannot say I’ve ever tried a true Ceviche but only heard about it through friends. So lets get down to the recipe,  and please do share your suggestions or complaints if you try your hand at it.

What you need:

1. 1 Block firm tofu, frozen, thawed and pressed to remove all liquid
2. 2 TBL Canola oil
3. 2 cloves garlic minced
4. Freshly squeezed juice from: 1/2 a white grapefruit, 4 lemons, 4 limes, 1/2 a naval orange
5. 2 dried Guajillo Chiles, de-seeded, rehydrated, then finely diced
6. 4 Roma tomatoes cut into 1/4 inch cubes
7. 1 Red bell pepper finely chopped
8. 2 tsp smoked paprika
9. 1/4 red onion finely diced
10. 2 TBL chopped fresh mint
11. 1 handful of green beans, halved
12. Salt and Pepper to taste

Putting it all together:

1. Start by cutting the tofu into 8 1/2 inch thick slabs, then in a skillet add the oil then the garlic, let the garlic just warm up, then add your tofu and fry just slightly golden. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and top with paper towels then gently squeeze to get the excess oil out.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine your citrus juices, tomato chunks, hot and sweet peppers, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, red onion, and beans. Cover with Saran wrap and allow to sit on the counter for 1 hour.
3. Once your tofu has cooled lay it out in a 9×9 casserole dish, then top with the citrus mixture. Cover with Saran wrap and refrigerate for at-least 2 hours.
4. To serve gently remove the slabs of tofu from the bottom of the casserole dish and transfer to a serving dish, then using a slotted spoon top with the Ceviche solids. I served mine with a toasted tortilla, and leaf of Romaine, with a little Adobo on the side.

Note: For those of you who don’t know what Ceviche (pronounced “se·vi·che”) is, it is a Latin American dish made differently depending where you eat it. What makes it Ceviche is the use of mainly lemon and lime juices to cook seafood, the acids denature proteins in the seafood allowing you to cook without any heat. I slightly fried the tofu this time but will try it without frying next time I make this dish, but believe me I will be making this dish again.