Halibut and Shrimp Ceviche

There should be a LAW against having TWO major food "holidays" in the same 4 week period!  I am going to petition somebody (who would that be anyway?) to NEVER, EVER do Easter and Mother's Day this close again. It's like it's part of a mass torture!!

OK.  Now that I got that out, I can move on with my thoughts. 

Mother's day is like the PINNACLE of all family days really.  I mean Mom's EXPECT certain things on this day.  If you happen to be the poor soul who must impress your mom or mom's with your cooking and pampering skills, you know the pressure.  We are to honor our Mothers, love them and treat them like queens on Mother's Day.  This means atmosphere, food, family and drink must be in perfect harmony.  AND to top it off? It should be memorable. YIKES!!

I don't know if you read the post this weekend which depicted my menu for the day.  The meal I planned is the meal I wanted to eat.  After all, I am a mother too!  The food was good.  In fact,  I would say about as memorable as these things go.  I told my husband this morning that "I wish I was a guest at that party!!"

But did I mention I wasn't really in the mood to create "mothers day magic"?  The menu had HUGE prep to it....so it was a lot  more work than I thought it would be!  I TOTALLY mis-judged it. But Cest La Vie.

Probably the most memorable dish was the Civeche.  It was worth the effort.  Perfect fresh halibut and shrimp cut to perfection with gorgeous fresh veggies and mango.  Before I go on about the Civeche let me tell you this is not MY "Summer Civeche" that I make with my garden harvest all summer long (I will post that in the summer)

This recipe came from the company, O Olive Oil (I altered it just a bit, as usual).  If there was ONE company I would beg you to try something WONDERFUL from, it's this company.  I beg people to buy me ANYTHING from their site for any occasion that gifts are warranted.  It's the olive oil and vinegar that Oprah uses (although I was using this before her, SO THERE!).  I heard about O Olive Oil oil from another blog!!  The person writing was SO enthused I thought "man, this stuff must knock your socks off" because how excited can you really get over oil and vinegar?? As the saying goes, that was then and this is now.  It's my favorite little luxury in my kitchen.  If you buy anything upscale for your cooking repertoire, buy this.  Check them out at http://www.ooliveoil.com/. 

I'll explain what I did and how I did it, but fortunately or unfortunately you will have to get their product in order to recreate the dish.  Trust me - it was worth it,  the mom's were appreciative, and it was memorable.

It's the stuff "foodie" dreams are made of!

HALIBUT and SHRIMP CEVICHE

GORGEOUS, VIBRANT, and BRIGHT - JUST LOOK AT IT.....YUUMM  I want it again!

Here is what you will need:

3/4 LB extremely fresh Halibut
1  LB  Fresh UNCOOKED shrimp (peeled and cleaned)
1/2 CUP O OLIVE Myer Lemon Olive Oil ( the recipe calls for the jalapeno lime, but I didn't have any)
1/2 CUP O OLIVE Sudachi Lime Rice Vinegar
1/2 cup fresh squeeze lime juice
zest of two limes
1/2 Red Onion, Very small dice
4 Serrano Chile's, seeded and diced fine
1-2 Persian snacking cucumbers or 1/2 or more English (hot house) cucumber, small dice
1/2 cup cilantro, rough chopped
1 mango, diced
1 large avocado (or 2 medium)
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1 tablespoon coriander seed

First in a large glass bowl dice up the halibut in about 1/2" dice.  For the shrimp sliced them down the length (like butterflying them) then chopped them up. Add both to the bowl.

Halibut to the right and shrimp to the left. (cover and set aside in the fridge)

Toast the cumin and coriander in a DRY saute pan until golden and fragrant.   Let cool for a minute and grind in a spice/coffee grinder until fine.  (if this is just too much use a combo of ground (probably 1 teaspoon each)

In a small bowl, combine Oil, vinegar, lime juice, zest and spices.  Whisk together to combine:

(The zest kind of fell under the spices, but it's in there!!)

Pour the juice/zest over the fish/shrimp and stir well.  Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to "cook" the fish.

Now, on to the veggies, VERY finely dice the cucumber (try to remove most of the seeds, although they are almost seedless anyway), onion, serrano chile and put into a bowl (isn't it beautiful?)

Now Mix the veggies into the fish and put back in the fridge while you dice up the mango, avocado and chop the cilantro. Mix the last ingredients and finish with nice finishing salt (if you don't have any, kosher flake will work just fine) and pepper, to taste.

Mix it all together and let it combine flavors for about 15 minute in the fridge.  The recipe from the site says to drain the extra sauce if any...UMMMM NO!!  It's so good, why waste it? (in fact, I liked the juice so much, I made and added more!)

Serve in a dish as beautiful as the ceviche (I used a giant martini glass) and scoop with baked tortilla chips. I used Guiltless gourmet, black bean chips.  The color contrast, texture and flavor was perfect with the Ceviche.

 

The result was a perfectly balanced, very refreshing, elegant and beautiful Civeche that started our celebration off in beautiful synergistic harmony.  Enough said.

From my home to yours, Enjoy!