Ceviche with Blood Orange on Tostadas

It's the tail end of citrus season so I knew I had to get in my last fix of ceviche before all of that delicious fruit disappears until next winter.

I grabbed a blood orange, a ruby grapefruit and lots of limes to make this version, hence the pinkish purple hue to the fish. But lime and lemon are traditional, so don't feel the need to splurge on other citrus. Make sure at least half of the marinade is lemon or lime, the other citrus doesn't have enough acid to cure and thus transform the fish from raw to cooked.

My ceviche marinade always includes several cloves of garlic, at least half a jalapeno (deseeded and deveined if you like less heat) sliced in rounds, and some cilantro. But you can limit it to just citrus juice, if that is what pleases you.

Usually ceviche is served with chips, but here I wanted more fish and less chips, and a tostada worked perfectly.

French Onion Soup

 

French Onion soup is one of those classic soups that I used to think were overrated, until now.

Of course caramelized onions are delicious and when you add a really good mushroom stock to them, they achieve greatness. Dunking a hunk of toast with melted Gruyere cheese on top of it, well that's almost cheating!

I have been making a vegetarian Pho broth inspired by this blog, and since dried shiitake mushrooms are what give the broth its depth, I knew it would be perfect for a vegetarian version of French Onion soup. Yes indeed!

Make sure you use a crusty, rustic bread for your toast since any other less substantial bread will disintegrate too quickly in the hot soup. A range of cheeses will work, anything from Gruyere to Emmentaler to Swiss. I recommend making cheese toast rather than fiddling with putting your bowl of soup under the broiler.

For those who are curious, the glass of wine is Pouilly-Fuisse, and it was a perfect pairing!