Shrimp and Redfish Ceviche

I decided to add a picture of myself at work. I never share my work life in my food blog, basically because this is my place away from work and college. My relaxation and exploration, where I share new ideas and thoughts and where I find inspiration from others. Tomorrow I will be working in a ditch in 20 something degree weather, waiting to get home and finish my lemon and ginger marmalade. I peeled zest from 10 lemons tonight and put everything into the refrigerator for tomorrow night. Hopefully nothing will dry out.

My newest experience with raw seafood ~ Ceviche. Ceviche, I believe, comes from Latin America and means a form of citrus-marinated seafood salad. The citrus cooks the seafood. If a person leaves the seafood marinating in the citrus juices to long, seafood mush will be the result. I have never tried ceviche, much less create a dish with the mixture so with Chile Pepper magazine in hand, I put together my shopping list and jumped in.

The dish was made as an appetizer, just in case I was not overly enthused about the texture, flavor, appearance, or aroma. The appearance needs more work. I hurried the extraction of avocado slices and my first martini glass is missing a lime slice. The flavor has a Wow! factor, very tasty, and I love the colors. A lot should be said about simplicity of the dish and being able to assemble the ingredients the night before. Coming home from work and finishing the assembly took about 15 more minutes. With care of presentation, the recipe will be reserved for entertaining purposes because I will love showing the dish off...especially in fun glassware.

Shrimp & Redfish Ceviche
(adapted from Chile Magazine)

1 jalapeno, diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 bunch scallions, chopped (green part only)
5 Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
8 oz. fresh redfish fillet, boneless and skinless (other light white, boneless, skinless fish fillets will work)
1 pound of fresh baby shrimp
8 ounces bloody Mary mix
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
8 limes, juice only
1/2 t. kosher salt
4 ripe avocados, diced
Frito chips as scoping ingredient (optional)

Directions:
Cut the redfish into pieces roughly the same size as the baby shrimp. Place the redfish and shrimp into a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Place the seafood into a plastic container and cover completely with fresh lime juice and allow to sit in the fridge overnight. The acid in the lime juice will cook the seafood. The next day, remove seafood from the fridge and strain off the excess lime juice. Mix the seafood with all other ingredients and finish with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Serve with fresh corn tortilla chips or Frito's for dipping, or garnish with thin tortilla strips and avocado slices.