Forage’s Chef Cat Castaneda Talks Goldenberries & Kinilaw

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Cape Gooseberries
Goldenberries, also known as cape gooseberries, are in season now. Find them at your local farmers’ markets. (Photo by Gillian Ferguson.) (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Chef Cat Castaneda at Forage.

This week at the farmers’ market, we ran into Chef Cat Castaneda of the popular Silver Lake neighborhood eatery, Forage. We found her stocking up on goldenberries (also known as cape gooseberries or ‘Pichuberries’) grown by Eric Broburg of Edulis Gardens, a sustainable small farm located along California’s Arroyo Grande just north of Pismo Beach.

These little beauties resemble miniature tomatillos at first glance, but peel away their papery-thin husks, and inside you’ll find the cheery orangish-yellow of this surprisingly versatile superfruit. Similar in size to blueberries, goldenberries are packed with antioxidants and vitamins but with a brighter, fruity flavor and tiny edible seeds. They’re perfect for snacking on raw or using in cereal and salads. They’re also high in pectin, which makes them great for turning into preserves and/or baking into pies and cobblers.

Curious to know what Cat was going to do with her stash of goldenberries, we followed her to Forage to find out. There, Cat combined her gooseberries along with passion fruit pulp as a lovely accent for kinilaw, a Filipino version of ceviche that uses coconut vinegar instead of citric acid to cook the red snapper. Altogether, it’s a fairly simple recipe that highlights the best of seasonal produce and fresh ingredients. We love that.

Forage - Kinilaw
Chef Cat Castaneda uses goldenberries for Forage’s Red Snapper Kinilaw, a Filipino-style ceviche made with both coconut vinegar and coconut milk. (Photo by Camellia Tse.) (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

Red Snapper Kinilaw

Serves 1–2

Ingredients
6 oz red snapper, skinned, deboned and medium-diced
¼ cup coconut vinegar or unseasoned rice wine vinegar
½ cup coconut milk
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 Thai chili or jalapeño, de-seeded and minced
3 tbsp red onion, finely diced

Garnish
¼ Persian cucumber, small-diced
¼ avocado, medium-diced
5 goldenberries, halved
1 passion fruit, pulp scooped out
4 lovage leaves
4 cilantro leaves
3 Thai basil or opal basil leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch of fresh ground pepper

2 oz taro chips, served on the side

Preparation

For the ceviche: Marinate red snapper in vinegar for about 15-minutes, making sure to coat evenly. Refrigerate. The fish should look opaque. Strain any excess vinegar and add the coconut milk, fish sauce, salt, jalapeño and red onions.

Arrange ceviche in a shallow serving bowl atop a pool of coconut milk.

To garnish: Season the avocado with a pinch of salt and intersperse over the ceviche. Then in a small mixing bowl, add the cucumbers, goldenberries, passion fruit pulp, lovage, cilantro and basil, seasoning with a pinch of salt. Lightly coat mixture with extra virgin olive oil and gently toss. Arrange the fresh fruit, cucumbers and fresh herbs over the ceviche and avocado.

Serve alongside taro chips and enjoy!