Shrimp Ceviche

For this dish I stepped, what I thought, was just outside of my comfort zone. Turns out, this dish was super easy and took as much time as it does to chop a salad.

If you’ve been following me, I’ve been working on some light and low calorie meals for my hubby. For Father’s Day I was planning on breaking several of his dietary requests, just for the day, so, somewhere I wanted to be judiciary. I finally settled on a small multi-course meal, and this dish was my opener.

Ceviche, at its base, is raw seafood cooked with citrus juices and accented by hot sauce. Often you’ll see the addition of cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, avocado, onions and other veggies and seasoning. It originates in Central and South America. When making this dish, take care in your prep. You are dealing with raw fish. There are many preparations of this dish with various seafood, veggies and seasonings. Here’s how I made mine.

Ingredients:
12 raw peeled & deveined shrimp
1/2 C lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 C lime juice (2 limes)
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1/2 Avocado, chopped
5 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
Red pepper flakes to taste, optional
Chili Sauce, optional
Salt

Directions:
(Decide how big you want your pieces. You can leave your shrimp whole and your veggies larger, or chop everything smaller. Except the red onion, just chop everything to a similar size.)

1. Chop shrimp and place in a non-reactive bowl. This means it won’t react to the acid in the citrus. A glass bowl will be fine. Add lemon and lime juice, pinch of salt and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 2 hrs.
2. Chop onion, avocado, tomatoes, and cucumber. Add to shrimp along with red pepper flakes. Toss again. If shrimp are “cooked” you may serve. Mine weren’t completely finished. How can you tell? The “cooked” shrimp will be red and white, while raw shrimp will be a grayish or bluish color. If it’s not finished, toss well and put it back in the fridge until done.
3. Serve. I served mine in a bed of arugula drizzled with the juice from the ceviche. Instead of incorporating my chili sauce, I dotted it around the plate and added a few sautéed scallops.

It’s easy to make this dish your own. Add other veggies, make it as spicy (or non-spicy) as you’d like. I also like thinly sliced daikon (white radish). It’s a mild flavor with a great crunch. Try serving it with crackers, in a lettuce wrap or hollow out a cucumber and load it up.

This dish proved to be super refreshing and light, and the perfect way to start our meal. It also makes a meal by itself, or a healthy snack. Enjoy!