I ate raw scallops and survived! 🙂  Well, okay, they weren’t really raw but they were “cooked” with lime juice in the fridge. Zero-heat cooking!

I was flipping through a recent copy of the LCBO magazine, and saw a beautiful, bright picture for TikiTiki Ceviche Scallops in Half Coconut Shell. It looked so appetizing that I immediately showed it to Jamie and put it on our kitchen chalkboard as a must try.

I have never eaten ceviche before. Jamie and I enjoy more than our share of sushi and sashimi, but we have never eaten a ceviche before. I have to admit, I was less afraid to try raw fish than to try fish “cooked” with lime juice. I had to do a little bit of research to trust the fact that the scallops would “cook” with the lime juice.

I keep using the term “cook” in quotations because I have learned that the fish doesn’t actually cook with the lime juice, but instead it becomes denatured (the citric acid in the lime juice alters the structure of the proteins in the fish, making the fish more opaque and firm, just as if it had been cooked with heat).

The original recipe called for ten large sea scallops and the juice and zest of one lime. Even though everything I read said this was the appropriate amount of citrus juice, I didn’t quite trust it, so I only used eight large sea scallops and the juice and zest of two limes. Just to be on the safe side. 😉

I purchased the best sea scallops that I could find. For a recipe like this, you don’t want to look for a bargain, you want the best. I stopped at LaPointe’s, a local establishment that has been selling fish and seafood to Ottawa residences for over 125 years. I figured that would be the perfect place for me to find the best scallops in town.

When we were preparing all of the ingredients (and let me tell you, there is an awful lot of chopping that goes into a ceviche), all I kept thinking of was how flavourful and lively this dish looked. I was very excited to sample this dish, I felt like we were living on the edge to try something so different and adventurous at home.

As we tossed all the ingredients together, it was all I could do to not take a sample right away. It smelled absolutely delicious and looked so appealing. But I knew that I had to wait. The recipe that we were following said to marinade all the ingredients for thirty minutes before serving, but I was a bit doubtful about that time frame. We looked on line and found that the marinating times varied from recipe to recipe, so we landed on ninety minutes and figured that was a reasonable amount of time.

When the timer went off, we portioned it out and maybe with a bit of nervousness, we dove in. Wow, this was absolutely incredible. The taste was so fresh. I think that is the best word to describe it – Fresh.  I have never had a dish that was so colourful and vibrant.

This made a lot for 2 people, but we knew we couldn’t store it in the fridge, so we ate it all!  I highly recommend this recipe! It took us by surprise but I guarantee that we will be making this again.

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Adapted from:
LCBO – Tiki Ceviche Scallops

Ingredients:

• 8 large sea scallops, chopped
• Juice and zest of 2 lime
• 2 jalapeños, finely chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped basil
• 3 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Marinate for 90 minutes in refrigerator before serving.