Octopus Ceviche

by RHONDA M. FAZIO.

We can thank Peru for foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, and quinoa, to name a few. However, nothing beats their national dish: ceviche.

 

A bucket list can mean so many things in a person’s life. What is it that you most want to do before you reach the invisible finish line here on Earth? And how are you going to live that life until you get to the place where the race stops? The concept of a bucket list is personal and can be as fluid as water or as hard as a rock. It all depends on you, your interests, your curiosity, and where you want to go with it.

We can look at food the same way. We can enjoy the abundance of local, seasonal foods from the South Coast in the summer, while it is at its most vibrant, and fresh, and easily available—or we can dip our toes into new waters and try something completely different.

My favorite fare in the summer comes from salty ocean bays. It isn’t summer for me until I eat my first clam, or feel a warm breeze with the scent of saltwater tickle my face, or enjoy a cocktail on a deck somewhere, a juicy lime clinging to the rim of a pretty glass. (Shout out to PLAY Arcade Bar and Restaurant for having one of the most beautiful views of the New Bedford harbor.) Speaking of limes… that is a brilliant fruit. Not only do they make your drink taste refreshingly delicious, they also can cook your food without heat. Which makes them a key ingredient in ceviche.

Finding Ceviche

When I began to create my bucket list, the prospect of traveling to distant lands to participate in artist residencies that would enrich both my food and fabric interests put Peru at the top of my list. Known for the ancient art of weaving, spiritual landscapes of the Inca, painted deserts, terrestrial terrain and… food. Impressive range, to say the least. We can thank Peru for foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, and quinoa, to name a few. However, nothing beats their national dish: ceviche.

Many regions of Central and South America have variations of this popular dish, consisting of seafood, lime, and chilies, often with a few extra ingredients, depending on the region—much like the varying seafood that is the focal point of the dish. It simply depends on where you are. For instance, fresh saltwater fish along the coast of Peru is a given when looking for a good ceviche. Lima has two of the best restaurants in the world that feature ceviche. Inland in the mountain range of the Andes, freshwater trout is the preferred fish. It is a beautiful shade of salmon, and delicious beyond comprehension.

Then there is Mexico, where I experienced a delightful ceviche made with octopus. Here is where the plot thickens: they are extremely intelligent creatures of the ocean. Octopus is in the mollusk family, along with the clam, mussel, snail, scallop, and squid—even the nautilus and the exquisite abalone. Mollusks can be spineless, soft-bodied organisms with beautiful hard shells, or they can have slinky bodies loaded with defense mechanisms that move them through the water in a hurry, leaving behind a haze of murky ink. Most of them are edible and delicious, even octopus ink, which finds its way into breads and pastas in shades of charcoal, a hue slightly lighter than burnt wood. An octopus is clever—it can open a tightly closed clam. Proof that octopi know about good food.

Where Octopi Abide

Be sure to pick up some frozen octopus at a local grocery store. Most of the octopus on the market is harvested from the waters around the African continent. Fresh octopus, while hard to find because of its very short freshness factor (my friends at Kyler’s Seafood confirmed this) is not such a promising choice. And they die slowly. Making ceviche from fresh octopus would be difficult if you are squeamish about cutting into a living animal. It will still move. There is a dish in Japan that serves it still moving on the plate—no thank you!

Ceviche requires raw seafood. The acid of the lime when combined with the octopus cooks the meat. Adding the other ingredients finishes the dish. Served with a side of sweet potato and corn is as close as you can get to the authenticity of the Peruvian dish, with one exception. Our recipe recommends that you blanch the octopus and then add the acid of the lime. Furthermore, it is also recommended that you use frozen seafood, particularly wild-caught and flash-frozen white fish, such as cod and halibut. There is less risk of bacteria and parasites that are commonly found in fresh fish. A deep freeze of -4° for 72 hours, the industry standard, will eliminate any such risk. I leave the serving of raw fish to the professional chefs who prepare sushi.

Octopus is a favored ingredient in European countries that touch the ocean and the seas. It is enjoyed in local Portuguese cuisine and my favorite, my Sicilian mother’s cooking. It has been an ongoing bucket list pursuit to get my food to taste like my mother’s. After all my questions, all the sentry moments of watching her in the kitchen, I swear she purposely would leave an ingredient out, then add it into the pot when I wasn’t looking. But finally, after years of trying, my linguini with white clam sauce tastes of perfection, just like my mother’s! But that’s another story for another time.

In the meantime, desfruta! Enjoy!

by RHONDA M. FAZIO