My Own Ceviche

One of my resolutions for this Summer was to eat healthier and make more of my own food from scratch. I've never hidden the fact that I'm no Martha when it comes to cooking, baking or any other culinary arts. It's definitely not my forté. But I try. And I sure love to eat homemade food made from scratch.

So, since I had a little time on my hands I decided to jump right in and try to make my own ceviche without actually following one single recipe. I did look at a few different ones on the web but none of them sounded just right, so I took ideas from here & there and added my own twist and I must say that it turned out amazingly, mouthwateringly delicious... if it hadn't I wouldn't share my recipe with you all. ;)

Shrimp & Scallop Ceviche

Here's what you will need:

1 lb. medium shrimp, raw, peeled & deveined
1 lb. small to medium scallops, raw and thawed
2 - 3 large lemons
3 - 4 limes
1 large orange
1 cup fresh cilantro
1 large onion
2 tomatoes
1 cucumber
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt

Here's how to make it:
In a medium pot bring water to boil with a pinch of salt and a squirt of lemon. At the same time, heat the olive oil & salt in a large saucepan, on medium heat. Boil the shrimp and sautée the scallops no longer than 2 - 3 minutes. The shrimp should turn pink and the scallops should turn white, but if you cook either of them longer than that time, they will be rubbery.



While the shrimp & scallops are cooking, juice up the lemons, limes & orange and mix it all together. The idea is to have equal parts lemon juice, lime juice and orange juice ... so you can decide based on the size of the fruits how many of each to use.

After the shrimp have been boiling for 2 - 3 minutes (or until pink) remove them from the hot water and throw them in a bowl with ice water to stop the cooking process. You can do the same with the scallops if you want. Then chop up the shrimp into 1/2 inch pieces and if the scallops are small enough you can leave them whole or half them.

Pour your citrus juice mix over the chopped shrimp & scallops and refrigerate, covered, for 1 hr.

While the seafood is marinating, proceed to chop up the onions, tomatoes, cucumber & cilantro and mix together. I chopped all of my veggies into small cubes... no bigger than 1/4". You may choose to chill these as well, but it's not necessary.

After the seafood mix has chilled for 1 hr., pour it over the chopped veggies in a large bowl, mix well, add salt to taste and VOILA!



Serve your homemade seafood ceviche immediately in a clear cup or bowl. Garnish with a whole shrimp or a sprig of cilantro and eat with tortilla chips, pita chips or toasted French bread.

There are many variations you can try with your ceviche. If you prefer the spicy variety, you can add hot chiles or cayenne peppers to your veggie mixture. I opted against it only because I knew my girls would be eating some and they wouldn't like the hot peppers in it. If you like the taste of bell peppers, you can add these as well. You can also try making it with fresh fish instead of shrimp & scallops. Red snapper would be divine in it!

Note: when they make it with fish they usually don't cook the fish first. They just let it marinate in lemon juice overnight to sort of "cure" it.

But whatever you do, there are 2 important keys to making the perfect ceviche:

1. Use fresh ingredients! Don't buy pre-cooked seafood or canned veggies. Freshness is the key.

2. Serve chilled! There's nothing yuckier than room temperature ceviche.

Enjoy! If you try this recipe, I'd love to hear about it. :)