I had an incredible ceviche salad some time ago that Sissi of With a Glass reminded me of with her lovely recipe for her Hot & Cold Rice Bowl with Shrimp, Avocado and Cucumber. This salad combined the wonderful creamy avocado with the tangy citrus of the refreshing grapefruit. I decided I needed to serve something a little off the beaten path for a dinner we were having with our good friends Rae and Monica a couple of Saturdays ago and came up with this refreshing and flavourful recipe that was inspired by our recent trip to NYC. Norma (Garden to Wok), that lettuce you see in the photo is home grown.
To keep things on the healthier side, I didn’t use flour tostadas but instead substituted them with whole wheat flax fajita shells, cut into triangles and broiled for a few minutes to make them crisp, like crackers.
Shrimp Ceviche with Grapefruit, Avocado, Cucumber and Corn
Serves 4 appetizer portions
Ingredients:
- 150g raw shrimp (20-30 per lb count), shelled, deveined and chopped into equal bite-sized portions
- 1 small ripe avocado, finely diced with about 3 tbsp lime juice sprinkled on it or you can dice the avocado just before serving
- 1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned, seeds removed, juice reserved.
- 1/4 cup of frozen corn (defrosted)
- 1/4 cup of finely diced cucumber
- 2 tbsp toasted unsweetened coconut
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 tsp sesame oil
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- pinch of sugar or honey
- 1 lime cut into wedges
- 4 tbsp avocado paste (recipe can be found here) or use guacamole
- 4 lettuce leaves, washed and stored until serving (we had curly lettuce)
- 1 small fajita shell (we always have whole grain flax)(use gluten free for a GF version)
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped roughly
- 1 tsp fresh mint, chiffonade finely
- salt to taste
Directions:
- Mix the juice from the grapefruit and lime juice in a jar with a lid; taste and add sugar to taste. Add the cut shrimp (raw) pieces and coat well. Refrigerate until the shrimp is entirely opaque (it took my shrimp about 4 hours as I left them in about 1/2″ chunks)
- In another covered jar, mix the grapefruit, corn and cucumber. Reserve in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Coat the fajita shell lightly in EVOO. Cut into 8 even triangles. Bake each side until the shells are golden, flipping when done. Allow to cool.
- When you are ready to serve, add the shrimp (and liquid) to the reserved grapefruit, corn and cucumber and mix; add the sesame oil, cayenne pepper, sugar or honey, salt, cilantro and mint. Stir well.
- Place one lettuce leaf on each plate. Spoon equal amounts of the ceviche into each leaf. Garnish with a lime wedge and sprinkle with the toasted coconut. Take two of the toasted fajita shells and smear a bit of the avocado paste on each one and stack one on top of another. Garnish each plate with one stack of two.
Notes:
- Ceviche is seafood cooked with acid. It does indeed cook, but it you are squeamish, then pre-cook your shrimp by boiling it until done. Don’t soak it in the grapefruit/lime mix as it will continue to cook and you will have rubbery ceviche. Simply reserve the shrimp in the fridge and dress when you are ready to serve.
- This recipe calls for a balance of salty, sweet and sour. I keep my ‘dressing’ separate from the raw shrimp so I can taste it until I am satisfied that it is good.
Love ceviche Eva – still didn’t try making my own you know… really need to have a try sometime… not sure how I’d be with the shrimps cooked in the juice though… that might indeed seem a bit weird to me… I guess it’s just a question of trying things! Love the look of it, and the lettuce looks great too – well done! 🙂
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Sorry about the delayed response, just found a new way to review comments in WP. The shrimps cooked in acid should be no different than properly cooked in hot water! Even JT liked the dish and he tends to be quite skittish!
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Sadly there is no such thing as fresh fish in the middle of Wyoming so I’m going to ignore this post Eva…it’s teasing me with it’s goodness. 🙂
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Too bad Jed, it really is one of my favourite Mexican (South American) dishes.
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Don’t worry…it’ll only be forgotten until the time we return to the land of fresh seafood. 😉
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At some point this summer I must try ceviche… your recipes look so fantastic! It looks so refreshing, which is much needed food quality in this heat wave!
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Thanks Amber it was tasty and refreshing. It will surely make a repeat appearance on our menu this summer.
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I love ceviche so I LOVE this recipe! I have to admit to leaving out the cilantro though, I can’t handle the taste so I always have to make one with for my husband and one without for me. I’m definitely going to try this out.
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Thanks BFN, I adore cilantro but know a lot of people who can’t stand the stuff.
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This looks really good. I’m not normally a grape fruit fan, but I wonder if I’d like it in a ceviche. And I LOVE the toasted fajita shell idea!
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Thanks Kristy, you could try it with an orange instead. You’d just need to balance the sweetness out with more lime juice!
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Oh boy this looks great! I’ve never had raw shrimp at home. I guess I’ve always been a little worried about the quality of them. We can’t get fresh prawn or shrimp here so I never quite trust them enough to eat them raw. But I’ve been to countries where you can buy life shrimp! Now that is FRESH! Maybe too fresh for raw eating.
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Hi Genie, the shrimp is not raw. The acid cooks it completely through that’s why it’s important to watch them so they don’t get rubbery like they can get when you over cook them traditionally.
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You mean what I know! I never thought that the acid could overcook them. I’ve actually eaten live shrimp before. It was at a very expensive, flash restaurant in Beijing. But that’s a completely different blog post…
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That lettuce was the most tender and delicious, wasn’t it? Looks like you have a variety of lettuce on the plate. Bet it was exciting to walk out onto the deck to harvest and serve the lettuce the same day to your friends.
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Hi Norma, it was very tasty. I always enjoy harvesting our home grown vegetables and serving them.
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Light and flavourful … that’s my type of salad too.
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Thanks Angie, it was really quite a lovely appetizer.
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Ceviche was a favorite and your recipe sounds tasty, Eva. I say “was” because my old fish market closed a few years back and I won’t make a ceviche unless I really trust the fishmonger. Being 1000 miles from the nearest coast means fresh seafood suitable for ceviche isn’t readily available. Luckily, I “found” a new place a few months ago and drove past another right across the street from “my” Italian market. With a little luck, one of these two fishmongers will gain my trust and I’ll be back to making ceviche again.
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That’s quite true, John. I made my ceviche from frozen shrimp that I defrosted in the fridge over two days. Frozen is fresher because it is frozen at the time it is caught and not brined. The acid cooks the ceviche as if it was cooked with heat. I have never even had the slightest problem with it.
A good fish monger is indeed hard to find. I really like our’s in Bloor West Village.
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I’m going to have to make ceviche one of these days because I drool every time you post a recipe for it. Unfortunately my husband hates shrimp, making it a bit more difficult to throw together, in my opinion.
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You can use any old seafood, but I like the way the shrimp ‘cooks’ in the acid. I’ve actually had it with octapus, white fish, tuna, calamari and it’s equally as delicious.
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One of my favorites, ceviche that is. Love this recipe!
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I really love the fresh tastes of Ceviche too, Greg. And although the ingredient list is long, it is reasonably easy to make.
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That’s an impressive and flavoursome ingredients list. I love how the lettuce has been grown at home. On your roof??? And what a lovely salad. It’s so wonderful, when you go overseas, to bring back something that can remind you of that very special time away xx
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Hi Charlie, although I do have onions and garlic and tomatoes on my roof top garden, the lettuces are in a container on the back deck. It doesn’t get quite as much sun as the roof, so the lettuce doesn’t burn out.
New York is just a 45 minute plane ride from Toronto, thank goodness.
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Sissi’s blog is a big favourite, I’m glad you remade this gorgeous dish 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU, I do adore Sissi’s blog too. She usually cooks with flavours that are my favourite.
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