Jonathan Zaragoza is a Chicago-based chef who got his start in professional kitchens working at the Michelin-starred Sepia and Sixteen, before becoming the chef of Masa Azul at 22. Jonathan’s path has taken him throughout Mexico, deep into its rich culinary heritage, to bring its traditions with him to London, Dubai, Paris, and the U.S.

Jonathan Zaragoza

This dish is a showstopper.As the name suggests, it’s a black ceviche, with raw cubes of fish cured in citrus juice and dressed with a sauce made with charred vegetables. Charring vegetables—a technique called “tatemar”—is an integral part of Mexican cuisine. By using intense, direct heat (typically, a hot comal), we blacken vegetables without using any fat and incorporate them, charred bits and all, in salsas, moles, and recados. The charring transforms these ingredients, intensifying their flavors and giving them a complexity—a little bitterness, a lot of sweetness—that isn’t really achievable in any other way. I turn the charred vegetables into a coal-black paste, then use lime juice and orange juice to create two sauces: a thinner one, to marinate the raw fish; and a thicker, more viscous one to dress the plate, since it clings to the fish better. I also grind a bit of charred onion into a powder to use as a garnish; this is totally optional, but it adds some visual pop to the final dish.As with all raw seafood preparations, you want to find the freshest, highest-quality fish you can. I call for red snapper in this recipe; it’s relatively lean, quite sweet, is well-suited to being diced into little cubes, and can stand up to the strong flavors in the marinade. If you can’t find red snapper, kanpachi and hamachi are great substitutes.

Ceviche Negro