Recipe – Bay Scallop Ceviche

Prep Time

25 Minutes

Cooking Time

1 hour (for scallops to “cook” in lime)

Yields

4-6 servings as main dish

Ingredients

  • 6 limes
  • 1 lb small bay scallops, wild caught, defrosted
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 Persian cucumbers (or 1 large English Cucumber), unpeeled and diced
  • 4 green onions, sliced (white and green part) (Chopped red onions work well here too!)
  • 1 large red bell pepper, diced
  • 4 small, vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
  • 6 radishes, diced
  • 1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2-3 small, or 1 large, avocado
  • Chipotle (or other chili) powder – you decide how hot!
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Juice 5 of the limes, set aside the 6th lime for later.
  2. Rinse and drain the scallops.
  3. In a glass bowl, combine the scallops, the juice of the 5 limes and 1 teaspoon salt.
  4. Let scallops marinate for 1 hour in the lime. Give them a stir occasionally to make sure they’re all marinating evenly. (If you refrigerate the scallops while you’re marinating them, you may need to let them marinate longer than 1 hour.)
  5. While the scallops are marinating, chop up all of the vegetables (except for the avocado and lettuce) and put them in a large salad bowl. (Be careful when you seed and chop the jalapeño – good idea to wear gloves!)
  6. Once the scallops have finished marinating (They will be opaque when they’re done, just as if they had cooked – if they’re not opaque, continue marinating until they are) lift them out of the juice with a slotted spoon and mix them with the chopped vegetables. Discard the lime juice they have marinated in.
  7. Add the juice of the 6th lime to the salad.
  8. Dice the avocado(s) and add to the salad.
  9. Toss with the amount of chili or chipotle powder that you like, add salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Enjoy!

Notes

You can serve this as:

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  • A main dish salad served over butter lettuce leaves or romaine, with warm cornbread OR
  • Tacos served with corn tortillas and mixed greens OR
  • An appetizer served with carrots and zucchini, sliced into “chip” shapes or even HEALTHY tortilla chips.

While the lime does “cook” the scallops, it doesn’t kill parasites as heat cooking does. When you buy the scallops, make sure they have been frozen, as the freezing (at temperatures of -4°F for at least 7 days) kills any parasites that may be present.

If you like, you could add a tablespoon of olive oil, although I find that it’s really good without.

Feel free to add in other veggies – I was thinking it would be good with some blanched green beans, chopped up, or some raw zucchini, diced.

You can use other fish as well – and while I’m a fan of fresh, wild fish, for ceviche I would rather use frozen (still wild, never farmed) to make sure there are no parasites!

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