Fresh Scallop Ceviche

I subscribe to The Food Network magazine.  My favorite feature each month is a cute little pull-out book which gives recipes for 50 different spins on the same item.  Last month the pull-out book highlighted smoothie recipes.  (For those of you who know me well, quit worrying about how I am going to pull off this Lilly pad moment – we are not making scallop smoothies.)

So here’s my thought.  I would love to do a pull-out book featuring my favorite fresh and tasty dish – ceviche!  Ceviche is a popular Latin American dish typically made by marinating raw fish in citrus juice.  The acid in the citrus juice actually cooks the raw fish – how cool is that?  Other than raw fish (you can use scallops, shrimp or any other firm white fish such as tilapia or halibut) and acidic citrus juice, the sky is the limit for what ingredients you can incorporate into the ceviche.  Coming up with 50 different variations would not be hard at all.  It’s also so easy to make, basically a bunch of chopping.  Since the ingredients in this dish don’t have anything to hide behind, be sure to use the freshest, tastiest fish and produce possible.

Fresh Scallop Ceviche

Ingredients

1 pound fresh scallops

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

zest from one lime

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 jalapeño pepper seeded and diced

1 bell pepper, seeded and diced

1/2 cup diced red onion

1 avocado, diced

1 cup fresh pineapple

3-4 TBSPS fresh chopped cilantro

Method

Cut the scallop into quarters.  I am preparing my ceviche today as a side dish to eat with a fork.  I also use the ceviche often as a fresh dip and scoop it up with tortilla chips.   I cut up the scallops smaller into eighths when making a dip.

Juice the lemons and limes and zest the lime.  I zested the lime with my favorite kitchen tool, a micro plane grater.  Fresh citrus zest adds such a zip to this dish.  I got my my micro plane grater at Williams and Sonoma.

Add the juice and zest to the scallops.

tomatoes, jalapeno and bell pepper

pineapple, red onion, cilantro and avocado.  Stir and wait until the acid cooks the fish.  It will only take a few minutes depending on how big your fish chunks are.  This is best if eaten fresh, but cover tightly and refrigerate if you are making it in advance.

Enjoy!!

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