One of the positive things to come out of our current confinement is that creativity in the kitchen has made a resurgence for a lot of people. I have flexed some creative muscles that I have not been accessing for quite some time, this ceviche recipe being one of those creative workouts.
Another Take on Seafood
Ceviche is one of those dishes that I rarely make at home, though I don’t know why because I don’t hesitate to order it at the local Peruvian restaurant. We are all seafood eaters (how many 9 year olds do you know of that adore sushi, grilled octopus, and oysters?), ceviche is a pretty easy dish to whip up, and I like the combination of seafood and fruit, like in my Tex Mex Shrimp Skewers with Peach Salsa. It’s just, for some reason, ceviche doesn’t regularly cross my mind for dinner. I changed that recently.
The hardest part of ceviche is making sure you have fresh seafood, but that requires some some last-minute shopping. One of the things I have found is that IQF shrimp works well in a pinch. (Oh, and if you aren’t up on the lingo, ‘IQF’ stands for ‘Individually Quick Frozen.’) I almost always have it in the freezer, and that allows me to whip this up without much forethought. The rest of the ingredients are fairly standard pantry items in my house, but your mileage may vary.
Tips and Pairings
A couple of tips for you: you want to make sure the vessel in which you marinate your ceviche allows the sauce to completely cover your seafood; and don’t let your ceviche steep for too long – after a while, the citrus juice will begin to break down the seafood. The firmer the fish, the longer you have, but I shoot for 30-60 minutes.
I will normally serve this in a cucumber boat with some black bean salad or even cumin sweet potatoes. Perhaps both. On the chance you are minimizing carbs, I think using it as a salad topper and dressing would be a great idea too.
Why don’t you take some time to flex your culinary creativity? See what you can come up with – and let me know how it turns out.
Shrimp and Mango Ceviche
A different take on seafood for an light and easy dinner
- 1 lb. fresh shrimp (peeled, deveined, and halved lengthwise)
- Zest of 1 lime
- Juice of 4 limes
- 3 T olive oil
- 1 jalapeño (diced)
- ¼ C fresh cilantro
- 1 medium mango (diced)
- 3 medium shallots (sliced thin)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 seedless cucumber (seeded, and cut in half, lengthwise)
- In the bowl of a food processor or blender, combine lime juice, olive oil, jalapeño, cilantro, salt and pepper.
- Pulse until combined.
- In a small, nonreactive bowl, combine shrimp, mango, and shallots.
- Pour over lime juice mixture, making sure that all shrimp is submerged, and place in refrigerator for 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Do not let shrimp sit too long in the lime juice – it will begin to break down.)
- To serve, cut each cucumber half in half, making a total of 4 pieces.
- Place a cucumber boat on plate, and spoon ceviche into cucumber boats.
- Garnish with lime zest.