I have
always been a big fan of ceviche, which is raw seafood that is cooked in acid
such as lemon and lime juice. It is a cold, refreshing, low-calorie and healthy
source of protein (w/some veggies). The best ceviche I have ever had was la costera ceviche- a tomato-based ceviche- at Xilantro in Wayne, which has unfortunately closed.
However, I recently attended an RD networking event at Xolo Tacos in Bryn Mawr,PA, and I have to say… they make a pretty delicious ceviche and had some very
interesting food options that I was super excited about including huitlacoche /corn
smut (corn fungus!), nopales (cactus leaf), and zucchini flowers. Regardless,
this blog is about ceviche (though I feel like there may be another blog coming
on the health benefits of the corn fungus...).
Making my
own ceviche has always intimidated me, as I am always iffy about preparing my
own raw seafood. I generally only get raw seafood at a sushi restaurant or buy
sushi-grade fish. So, I decided for my first ceviche endeavor, I would start
with a “safe” and easy recipe, so it is not traditional because it is not
completely raw. I created this recipe by reading a Coastal Living magazine that
had a bunch of recipes, and I kind of took pieces from a few. Below is what I
came up with, which I’m pretty proud of!
Kelly’s Easy Ceviche
 |
| My homemade ceviche |
Ingredients:
- ~ 1 cup Trader Joe’s frozen Seafood Blend (or about 4 oz of any mix of seafood/shellfish)
- Juice of 1 lime
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp Trader Joe’s Habanero Hot Sauce (or any hot sauce w/o added sodium)
- 6 cherry tomatoes, sliced thin
- ¼ medium onion
- ¼ medium cucumber
- 1 ½ tsp avocado oil (can sub olive or other types of oils)
 |
| Trader Joe's Frozen Seafood Blend |
Directions (condensed version):
1. Thaw seafood in refrigerator overnight
or for a few hours until soft.
2. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Blanch seafood in boiling water for ~1 minute.
3. Drain hot water and put seafood in ice bath to chill immediately after cooking.
4. Juice lemon and lime in a bowl. Add all
other ingredients.
5. Pour ingredients over seafood in Tupperware.
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours prior to eating.
6. Enjoy with avocado, on whole grain
crackers, in whole grain tortillas, in salads, and more!
Directions (detailed version):
To start, I
thawed out 1 cup of Trader Joe’s Seafood Blend (scallops, shrimp, and calamari)
and put in a bowl. I then brought a small saucepan filled with 1 cup of water
to a boil and threw in the seafood just to cook briefly ~1 minute.
From there,
I juiced 1 lime and 1 lemon in a separate bowl. Adding to that, I mixed in
garlic, chopped fresh cilantro, a pinch of salt, dash of Trader Joe’s habanero
hot sauce, jalapeno (with ½ the seeds), tomatoes, onion, cucumber, and avocado
oil. I then poured that vegetable/juice mixture on top of the seafood and mixed
together. I put in a Tupperware container and let sit in the fridge for a few
hours before dinner.
I chose to
eat this ceviche as a starter to my kale quinoa salad- which created the
perfect well-balanced meal! I also added in some avocado into both the ceviche
and salad for a healthy source of fat.
I only made
one cup worth because I am not keen on keeping seafood for several days (not
ideal in terms of food safety)- so this lasted me the day I prepared it and one
more serving for the next day. Obviously, you can increase the serving
depending on the amount of people you’re feeding.
Overall,
this was a super simple thing to make, delicious, and tastes like it should be
really expensive (though I would estimate this recipe cost me a total of <$4/serving-
the Trader Joe’s Seafood blend is $7.99/lb [one bag] and I used about ¼ lb of
it). I plan to incorporate this into my regular dinner routine from now on!
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