Lime, orange, olive oil, and cilantro — a 20-minute marinade, because with seafood the clock is not a suggestion.
1
🌶️ Jalapeño ›
minced, optional
Mise en place
Before you start
Yield: Enough for 600 g of fish or shrimp
Prep checklist
Jalapeño — minced, optional
Whisk everything together. Reserve half as a finishing sauce — with seafood this is doubly worth it.
Marinate fish fillets or shrimp 15–25 minutes in the fridge. Set a timer — at 40 minutes the citrus starts visibly "cooking" the surface (that's ceviche, a different recipe).
💡
The thicker the seafood, the longer it tolerates: shrimp 15 minutes, salmon 25, never more.
Pat dry, cook hot and fast, and spoon the reserved fresh half over at the table.
Taste before serving and adjust salt and acid — the last 30 seconds of seasoning matter more than any single ingredient.
Afterwards
Keep, reheat & pair
Storage
Unused marinade keeps 5 days refrigerated. Once it touches raw protein, discard it — or boil 3 full minutes to serve as a sauce.
Freezing
Freeze protein IN the marinade: it seasons as it thaws. 2 months.
Reheating
Marinades aren't reheated — but boil any used marinade for 3 full minutes if you want to serve it as a sauce (it touched raw protein).
Make ahead
Mix up to 5 days ahead and refrigerate; marinate proteins in zip bags so cleanup is nothing.
Wine pairing
Follows the finished dish.
Beer pairing
Follows the finished dish.
On the plate
Serve it with
Sides
·
Applies to whatever you marinate
Garnish
Reserve a spoonful (before it touches raw meat) to finish the cooked dish
How long should I marinate?
Acidic marinades: 30 minutes–4 hours for thin cuts (acid "cooks" the surface mushy past that), up to 12 for thick cuts. Yogurt and enzyme marinades: 4–24 hours. Salt-forward soy marinades: 1–24 hours. Seafood: 15–30 minutes only.
Can I reuse the marinade as a sauce?
Only after a hard 3-minute boil — it touched raw protein. Better habit: reserve a clean portion before the meat goes in.
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