Scallop and Shrimp Citrus Ceviche - week 26 of 52

Last week of “surfing” in June! About a month ago I had the pleasure of visiting NY & Connecticut for work and co-workers took us out to dinner at a fabulous Spanish tapas restaurant in Norwalk, Connecticut called Barcelona. The meal and company was great and the dish that really caught my attention was the Citrus ceviche, made of cod, citrus, peppers, tomato and cilantro. The flavour was excellent and as I am a huge fan of sushi, the texture of the fish was silky, reminiscent to sashimi, but firmer.

Ceviche is a Spanish dish where seafood is marinated in citrus juice. It is technically not “cooked” as cooking refers to adding heat to food. The citrus acids denature the seafood proteins, making it firm and opaque.

I found this recipe from Emeril and purchased some fresh bay scallops from St Lawrence market. As the scallops are not cooked, best to buy the best scallops you can afford (this is not the recipe where you want to get the best deal on scallops at the supermarket). The recipe turned out really well – refreshing and tasty! Nice and fresh - perfect for the summer. I would give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars!

I made some changes to Emeril’s original recipe below:
- I decreased the amount of cilantro to ½ tablespoon (I’m not a big fan)
- Added 3 green onions thinly sliced
- Increased marinating time to overnight, the hour that the recipe suggests was barely enough time to make the fish opaque.
- Garnished with lemon zest
- Halving the recipe will still make enough for 6 appetizer sized servings

This would be a great appetizer served in a martini glass or in tiny glasses.

Bonne appétit!


Shrimp and scallop ceviche – courtesy of Emeril Legasse

Rating (out of 5) ****

Cost $$

Ingredients
• 1/4 cup kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 pound bay scallops
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 2 limes, juiced
• 2 oranges, juiced
• 1 cup peeled, seeded and diced cucumber
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 serrano chiles, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 cup seeded and diced tomatoes
• 1 Hass avocado, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves, plus leaves for garnish
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Put a 4-quart stockpot over high heat and fill with 2 quarts of water. Season the water with 1/4 cup kosher salt and bring to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add the shrimp to the pot and immediately turn off the heat. Let the shrimp sit until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the water and spread out on a sheet pan to cool.

Once the shrimp are completely cooled, chop into 1/2-inch pieces and put in a medium-sized nonreactive bowl. Add the scallops, lemon, lime and orange juices and stir in the cucumber, red onion and chiles. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Stir the tomatoes, avocado, chopped cilantro, and olive oil into the shrimp and scallop mixture. Allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, then season to taste with kosher salt.

To serve, divide the ceviche between 6 chilled martini glasses, garnish with cilantro leaves.