Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Scallop Ceviche


Since I discovered ceviche and the freshest of scallops during my trip to Peru in July, I've counted them among my favorite foods. I finally dared mix my own ceviche and it turned out well! The only thing really lacking is a coastline in Dallas to pull this stuff to my table fresher.

The scallops in this recipe may be replaced with any cubed raw fish or seafood. In Peru, the dish might be served with thinly sliced fish after a few minutes of marination. This is fine for sushi grade seafood you would be comfortable eating raw. Otherwise, count on 4 hours of marination time to fully cook the seafood in citric acids.

Without access to the Peruvian ingredients I would have liked, such as aji amarillo and the precise purple shallot popular in Peruvian ceviche, I made some decent substitutions.

1/2 lb medium scallops, halved
2 roasted garlic cloves, mashed into a paste
Juice of 4 limes
Red and green jalepeno, diced
Cilantro
Small red onion or shallot to taste

Marinate scallops, garlic and lime juice with jalepeno for at least 4 hours. Drain excessive liquid, add cilantro, small red onion or shallot and a fresh squeeze of lime juice. Serve.

Peruvian Food and Ingredients

Photos taken in July, 2009.

Causa: an elegantly fashioned appetizer prepared with yellow potato, fish or seafood, roasted onion, avocado and various sauces.


Conchas (Scallops), in their native shell with the "coral." This part may be eaten but is tasteless or slightly bitter.


Ceviche, as prepared by a fisherman on the beach with a small sardine-like fish.


Aji Amarillo (Yellow Chile)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Zucchini and Goat Cheese

The recipe I read used toasted pine nuts. I preferred to carelessly burn instead of toast all the expensive pine nuts I bought. So I substituted some salted green pumpkin seeds I found in my cupboard. Voila! A lovely and seasonal sidedish for a fall day.



3-5 large zucchini
2 pieces of garlic, sliced
Goat cheese
Toasted pumpkin seeds or pine nuts
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Cut the zucchini in large diagonal slices. In a large bottomed pan, heat a small quantity on olive oil on medium heat. Add the garlic and saute to flavor the oil. Add the zucchini in a single layer. After 2 minutes, turn once and heat the other side for another minute. If desired, remove to a paper towel to reduce oils, before setting aside in a heated serving dish. Repeat with remaining zucchini.

Top with crumbled goat cheese, salt, pepper and seeds or nuts to serve.

Carrot Beet Soup


This beautiful and delicious Mexican-fusion vegetable soup is plain sweet! My mother, my roommate Jessica and friends Sonya and Mike all compliment my good beet soup. Do not neglect the final toppings of crumbled goat cheese, cilantro, lime, salt and black pepper, which perfectly enrich and finish this mild soup.

2 medium-sized roasted beets
8 medium-large carrots
1 large leek, white part only
1 yellow onion
5 cups vegetable broth
Lime juice
Olive oil

Serve with goat cheese, cilantro, coarsely ground salt and pepper and a slice of lime.

Roast the beets until soft throughout.

Meanwhile, peel and coarsely chop the carrots. Coarsely chop the leek and onion. In a large soup pot on medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the carrot, leek and onion. Coat with olive oil and cover to sweat for 10 minutes, tossing once or twice.

Continue to cook on medium heat. Add the vegetable broth and bring to a slow boil for 20 minutes or until carrots are well softened.



Add carrot mixture and beets to food processor. (My food processor is small, so I have to do multiple, multicolored batches; hence the pretty picture above.) Puree until smooth and return to stovetop. Add juice of half a lime and reheat before serving.

Top with crumbled goat cheese, cilantro and coarsely ground salt and pepper. Serve with a slice of lime.

Roasted Beets

I love preparing roasted beets with olive oil and coarsely ground salt and pepper. They are a great side dish to a black pepper marinated pork or served cold in a salad with spinach, goat cheese and pomegrante. When I prepare my Carrot Beet Soup, I bake extra beets for a yummy cold sidedish for lunch.



Select beets of equal size for even baking. Medium sized beets may take over an hour to soften in a 400 degree oven. Halve or quarter the beets for a shorter cooking time, although this tends to reduce the sweet juiciness of the end result.

Remove the tops and coat the beets in olive oil, coarsely ground salt and pepper. Roast in 400 degree oven, turning occasionally until soft in center. I generally cut them in half towards the end of baking to easily test the centers.