We’re still down the shore, and today I went fishing out of Viking Village (a historic site with a commercial fishery, some shops and a restaurant) with my dad, aunt, and uncle, on the Carolyn Ann III.

We hoped to be able to take home a sea bass or fluke to make ceviche with, as we have in other years.  Sadly we didn’t catch any keepers, but all the talk about ceviche made me crave it, so we stopped at the fish market at the dock when we got back. I picked up some flounder to make a ceviche starter for our steak dinner.

For the ceviche, I used:

• A little less than a pound of very fresh flounder (I checked with the fish monger to see if it was fresh enough to make ceviche with)
• Juice from four limes and half a lemon (you need enough to cover the fish)
• A few spoons of chopped curly parsley
• A tablespoon or so of chopped chives
• A quarter of a red onion, diced
• Two small avocados, diced (you can leave this out if you want a more traditional, concentrated ceviche)
• Salt and pepper

This was more than enough for six people – it could probably serve eight or ten.

I mixed everything but the avocados together and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. You want the fish to go from translucent to opaque – the lime juice will ‘cook’ the fish, making it white and firmer in texture. I diced and mixed in the avocado just before serving.

For the ‘turf’ portion of the meal, I did grilled skirt steak with a chimichurri-style marinade and sauce, and a flank steak seasoned with just salt and pepper.

For the skirt steak, I used:

• Two bunches of parsley, minced
• About six or seven cloves of garlic, pressed (or just finely chopped)
• A little fresh basil, chopped
• Juice and zest from one lemon
• Two shallots, minced
• A few teaspoons of A1 steak sauce (I would have used Worcestershire sauce instead, if I had it)
• Salt and pepper
• A few tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• Enough olive oil to make it a sauce

This was enough to make 3 skirt steaks, which, when combined with the flank steak, ceviche and sides was way more than enough for seven people with leftovers. I definitely overbought – this could have served 10 or 12 people. I’m so used to cooking for two; it can be hard to figure out how to scale up.

I used half the sauce for the marinade, and kept the other half for serving.I put the steaks in the marinade in the morning, so they had all day to sit and absorb the flavors. I wiped off most of the marinade to get them ready for cooking, and my uncle grilled them off to about 125 degrees.

To round out the meal, my uncle and I  made creamer potatoes and grilled asparagus. For the potatoes, we par cooked them in the microwave for a few minutes in some oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (if you’re doing this be sure to pierce them with a fork, even if they’re small,) then grilled them to 205 degrees, then finished by tossing them with a little butter and some chopped parsley.