Scallop Ceviche Avocado Salad
A few weeks ago when my folks were here, we visited 1492 New World Latin Cuisine. My dad was going to order their ceviche. After I explained to him just what ceviche was, well….he ordered something else. The problem was, now I’ve had ceviche stuck in my head now for two weeks.
Last night I finally made it. Ceviche (also called Seviche or Sebeche) is a South American dish that is basically a citrus marinated seafood. It is typically some type of raw seafood, whether it be fish, shrimp or scallops soaked in citrus juice, (most commonly lime or lemon juice) for hours. A common misconception is that the seafood actually cooks in the citrus juice. The juice does alter and firm up the structure of the seafood, but it does not kill bacteria like cooking does, so if you’re wimpy about that, this may not be the dish for you.
Do you still want to read on?
Okay, here is how I made my ceviche. This recipe uses common ceviche ingredients.
You’ll need a pound of Bay scallops. I bought these at Wal-Mart and they are very reasonably priced.
And you’ll need to juice 8 limes. Cut them in half and squeeze as much juice as you can out of them. Mine almost made a cup of lime juice, when I was done.
Holy hangnails, that lime juice runs all over your hands and stings like fire in any cut or hangnail ya might have.
Now we’ll need to do some chopping. Start with one-half of a red onion. Chop it as finely as you can.
Next, chop up one cucumber. Cut it in half, then cut it in half again longway,s and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a spoon. Also, chop it up as finely as you can.
Chop up one jalepeno and 1/2 cup of cilantro as well. Also, chop a tomato in half and scoop out the seeds with the spoon tip again. Dice it up finely.
Toss it all into the bowl with the lime juice and add 2 tablespoons of olive.
Mix this all up.
Pour it over your scallops.
Oh yes! Don’t forget to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper like I almost did!
Now cover this and let it set out at room temperature for about an hour. This helps get the “cooking” action going quicker. After an hour, you can chill it if you wish for another hour. You can let the mixture marinade for up to 6 hours, but I wouldn’t advise any longer than that as the lime juice will break down the scallops too much and your veggies will become mushy as well. After 6 hours you must drain off the lime juice marinade! You can actually do it after 2, if desired and eat up!
You will see the opaqueness of the scallops turn to whiteness as they begin to firm up and cook.
When you’re ready to serve this, you can have some options. Serve it in small bowls with some tortilla chips.
I found something lacking in this approach. It just needed something else. I remembered seeing some recipes online that called for adding chunks of avocado into the mix.
I thought I could do better than that.
Ahhh, that’s it.
This would be incredibly light and refreshing in the dead heat of summer.
The tanginess of the lime, and the sweetness of the scallops mixed in with the heat of the jalepeno and the cilantro were great over the creaminess of the avocado.
Try some Ceviche soon, you’ll be glad you did.
Katie’s Printable Recipe- Bay Scallop Ceviche Avocado Salad