Ceviche

We first tried ceviche in Mexico and have been admiring this simple and refreshing dish ever since. We are sure we’ve confessed to this many times before, but we sort of have a thing for latin food. Ceviche is on the menu list for almost every holiday. It looks so festive but yet so easy to make!

Typically there no crazy rules about ceviche – play with any seafood you like and try adding any bright vibrant veggies and fruits to it. There is one tip though, as with any raw seafood dish like sushi, sashimi, carpaccio or tartare, good ceviche requires the freshest seafood. No amount of aromatics, citrus or chile, can save your dish if you’re not using the highest quality seafood. But if you are still uncomfortable with raw seafood idea try slightly poaching it before marinating in citrus juices. We will usually poach the shrimp for a minute or two for our ceviche. Then the acid from limes and lemons will continue the job of cooking without using the heat. So cool, doesn’t it sound like an easy science project?

What you need:

2 lb bay scallops

2 lb shrimp

8 limes

4 lemons

1/3 cup fresh cilantro

2 large cucumbers

2 mangoes

2 avocados

1 jalapeno pepper

1 red onion

1/2 tspn salt and pepper

What to do:

Rinse scallops and place on paper towel to dry. Rinse shrimp and poach for a minute or two. Turn off the heat and place shrimp into ice to immediately stop the cooking process. Peel and cut into small cubes. Cut scallops into cubes as well, combine with shrimp and squeeze limes and lemons over. The seafood mixture should be completely immersed in the citrus juices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and chill, let the fish cook itself in the lime juice for at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours.

Cut your veggies and fruits into small cubes and add to seafood. It’s best to keep fish separate from vegetables until you’re ready to serve to avoid them becoming mushy.

Mix gently and serve in a bowl with corn chips or in fancy glasses.