My roots are all seafood. I grew up the daughter of a Navy diver turned commercial fisherman. I was tortured as a young child and was forced to eat scallops, geoduck, crab, sea cucumbers, abalone, ling cod, octopus, and a variety of other seafood. It depended on what my dad was diving for at the time or what he traded for.
That right, while all the other kids were eating hamburgers, I was eating clam cakes. And I didn’t appreciate it, at least not as much as I should have. Now I’ve gone from seafood and shores to meat and mountains. I’ve landed smack dab into serious cattle country and a hunting paradise.
And what do I want to eat?
Seafood.
The expensive kind.
All the time.
I enjoy a good steak and wild game, but given a choice I’d choose seafood.
I hadn’t realized it, but when I made my menu for my Mexican cooking class it included a seafood starter and a seafood main. The theme was Mexi-light so I guess seafood was also a natural choice.
I made this mock ceviche. I call it mock because a traditional ceviche, the citrus juice ‘cooks’ the shrimp. Which freaks some people out, especially if you are in cattle country. Instead this version tastes just like a ceviche but it is simply marinated shrimp.
Salad shrimp.
Cheap shrimp.
Bite sized shrimp.
Mock ceviche, perfect for cattle country folks and girls from the shore.
- 1 pound medium-small cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Juice from two limes
- Juice from two lemons
- Juice from two oranges
- 1 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1 Serrano chile, ribs and seeds removed, minced
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- ½ English cucumber, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 tomato, diced
- 1 teaspoon Olive oil
- Kosher salt to taste
- Cut each piece of shrimp in half, or into inch-long pieces. Place shrimp in a glass or ceramic bowl. Mix in the lime, orange and lemon juice. Mix in the chopped red onion and Serrano chile. Refrigerate an hour. Right before serving, add the cilantro, tomato and cucumber. Serve in cocktail glasses or shot glasses with cocktail forks or with tortilla chips.
I ate ceviche for the first time last December at a real hole-in-the-wall Mexican dive. Loved it! But, raw does freak people out (including me and sushi). 🙂 This sounds delicious. See you were catching up on your reading today. LOL
Oh yeah, I finally had a few moments of me time while on vacation to catch up. Now I am in catch up mode for work after vacation and will get behind in the blog reading again…it’s a vicious cycle I tell ya.
Looks fabulous, sounds fabulous–I can almost taste it just looking at the photos.
BTW, so sorry to hear about your tortuous childhood. . . .
Some poor child had to be tortured, I sacrificed so all the other children wouldn’t have too 🙂
The ceviche looks delicious!! I am like you…all the way seafood 🙂
I really can’t get enough seafood, I just visited Washington State and was in Seafood Heaven!
You poor dear.. such torture as a child. 🙂 My favorite restaurant in Denver serves a fabulous ceviche and I finally asked them why it was so good and they said they put orange juice in it. Ceviche is such a wonderful treat.
I know the torture, we never know how good we’ve got it until it’s gone! OJ all the way, it adds a nice sweetness to it, balances all those strong acids.
Freaks people, especially if you’re in cattle country :-). You had me at mock…and I love the flavours. And yes, it is typically to now remember fondly, the tortured paths we walked of certain foods. Oh the benefit of hindsight! Love the essential burst and brightness of flavour the cilantro brings!!