For the first time in the eleven years I’ve owned an Aga, the engineer who came to service mine last week was not able to carry out the work. It was my fault: Aga advises owners to turn it off 24 hours before the service but I in my infinite wisdom thought the evening before would be soon enough, forgetting that this year’s appointment was at the early hour of 8am. I did not realise that it would not have cooled down enough by then for the engineer to work on. I am telling you this so that you can learn from my mistake. Another tip is to lift up the lids and open all the doors to help it cool down more quickly.

If like me you have no other oven, you have to plan cold meals for when your Aga is switched off. (Mine takes about 5 hours to come back to full temperature; newer ones might be quicker; older ones possibly much slower.) I have the perfect recipe for such times, especially if it’s summer: ceviche. Ceviche is a South American dish of marinated raw fish or seafood. This one is ceviche de sierra by Diana Henry and is packed full of all the Mexican flavours I love, including chillies, lime and coriander.

Ceviche de Sierra

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 4 fillets extremely fresh mackerel, bream or sea bass, skin removed
• 3 limes
• 1 shallot, very finely sliced
• 1 large, ripe avocado
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 red and 1 green chilli, halved, deseeded and finely chopped
• 10g bunch coriander, leaves only, roughly chopped
• 3-4 tbsp pomegranate seeds

Method

• Slice the fish into broad strips
• Put them into a dish with the juice of two limes and the shallot
• Halve the avocado, remove the stone and slice the flesh
• Peel the skin from each slice, then put them into a shallow serving bowl or on a plate
• Season and toss in the juice of the third lime
• Add the fish and shallot, oil, chilli and coriander and toss gently together
• Sprinkle on the pomegranate seeds and serve