Made with Jersey hand-dived scallops, onion, cilantro and chili peppers, this spicy fresh scallop ceviche is a delicious start to any special meal. Or a light lunch!
Among the best benefits of living on an island is the gorgeous seafood that is available. It may cost more than buying from the freezer section of your supermarket but as a treat, it is so worth it!
As a bonus, hand-dived scallops are more sustainable and eco-friendly. Often supermarket scallops have been harvested by dredging which causes severe ecological harm by dragging heavy metal rakes across the seabed. This method damages fragile habitats (like coral reefs and biogenic reefs), scoops up large amounts of unwanted bycatch (non-target species like crabs and fish.) It also fatally chips or crushes a significant percentage of both harvested and discarded scallops.
I learned about our scallop divers on a local Facebook group where a family member of the divers posts when she’ll have scallops available for pick up from her home. They are shucked and packed up in one-pound bags, £11 each. When I see her posts, I can’t resist asking her to put my name on at least one bag!
The scallops are so fresh that often I just clean them up and we eat them sliced as sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi paste. Divine! This is the first time I made ceviche with them but it won’t be the last.
Fresh Scallop Ceviche
For the chili peppers, I used a mix of red and yellow – the ají amarillo is a traditional Peruvian pepper but hard to come by in the rest of the world. I was fortunate to have a friend who was growing them and shared a small plant with me! Use all red if that’s what you’ve got.
Ingredients
12 fresh scallops (weight with roe 15 oz or 425g)
Juice 3 seedless limes
½ small purple onion (about 60g)
2-4 fresh chili peppers
1 bunch cilantro (about 25g)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Method
Finely slice the half onion and mince the chili peppers.
Put them in a non-reactive bowl with the salt and then squeeze the lime juice over them. Leave to macerate while you clean the scallops.
Remove the roe and the tough “foot” from the scallops. I find the best way is just to use your clean fingers to gently separate them. Using a sharp knife, I end up inevitably cutting the scallop by accident.
Discard the “foot” but what you do with the roe is up to you. A lot of people like to pan-fry it with butter and garlic but personally, I’m not a fan of the texture. I have salted and dried it to make bottarga.
Slice the scallops into three circles each.
Pull the leaves off of the cilantro stems and chop them finely.
Add the scallop rounds to the lime juice bowl and stir gently to combine.
Try to tuck the scallops down into the juice and mostly under the onions and peppers.
Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate. Set a timer for 30 minutes.
When the timer rings, gently stir the ceviche making sure that any scallops that were near the top, are now right under.
Add in the chopped cilantro but do not stir yet.
Just use a spoon to press it down into the lime juice as best you can.
Set a timer for another 30 minutes.
When the time rings, gently stir the cilantro into the mixture. The scallop ceviche is ready to serve!
As you can see, I plated some of mine up in little lettuce leaves, three or four scallop rounds per leaf, making sure to add some of the lovely onions, cilantro and peppers.
Enjoy!
It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing ceviche recipes ahead of National Ceviche Day on 28 June. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below.
- Ceviche de Camaron - Shrimp Ceviche from Sneha's Recipe
- Fresh Scallop Ceviche from Food Lust People Love
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.
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