Happy Cinco de Mayo! Celebrate this Mexican holiday with this delicious shrimp ceviche recipe
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Here is a quick dish to make tonight to celebrate this festive Mexican holiday. Ceviche is a seafood dish that originated in Peru that is typically made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices like lemon or lime. This dish is very popular in Mexico and this authentic recipe comes from my upcoming cookbook, The B.C. Wine Lover’s Cookbook, Appetite by Random House coming soon.
The recipe is named for its creator Federico Gonzales, one of Intrigue Wines' wonderful Mexican workers that returns each year to help with their vineyard in Lake Country. Federico has been known to throw a Mexican harvest feast for the crew and the winery owners, Roger and Jillian Wong and Geri and Ross Davis and their families. This dish is a favourite and pairs well their Intrigue Riesling.
“Salud, amor, y dinero. ¡Y tiempo para gastarlo!” (Health, love, and money. And time to spend it.)
Federico’s Shrimp Ceviche
The goal is to have all the ingredients finely chopped so the pieces are uniform in size and it’s easy to scoop onto tortilla chips. Of course, this dish heightens exponentially by using tomatoes when they are in season, however, we can make due with imports for now.
Serves 8–10 as an appetizer
1 lb medium or large shrimp, cleaned, peeled, deveined and finely diced
1 cup + 2 Tbsp lime juice
1½ avocados, finely diced
3 firm Roma tomatoes, deseeded and finely diced (see note)
1 large jalapeño pepper, deseeded and finely diced (see note)
2–3 Tbsp cilantro, minced
½–¾ cup extra-spicy Clamato juice
Salt
Valentina Salsa Picante or other Mexican hot sauce, to serve
Tortilla chips, to serve
Note: For more spice, include the seeds and ribs of the jalapeños. Aim to use tomatoes that are just ripe—if they are overripe, the consistency of the ceviche can become too wet.
Place the shrimp pieces in a large bowl. Add 1 cup lime juice to completely cover the shrimp. Set the bowl in the fridge and gently stir every 10–15 minutes, until the shrimp change colour from clear/grey to white with a pink hue, then finally to a light coral or orange. This should take about 30 minutes but could take up to 1 hour, depending on the size of the dice. Cut into a piece of shrimp to make sure it is opaque throughout and there are no translucent pieces.
Drain the shrimp and gently fold in the avocados.
In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, jalapeños and cilantro, then add the shrimp and avocado. Add ½ cup Clamato juice and the remaining lime juice, and mix together. Add more Clamato juice to taste. Season with salt to taste.
Transfer to a serving bowl and top with salsa picante if desired. Surround with tortilla chips.
Pair with: Intrigue Riesling. This wine offers up aromas of peach, apricot and fresh apples. The crisp acidity delivers mouth-watering flavours of green apples, tangy lemon and honey. Cooler temperatures at night help to maintain the fresh acidity that great Rieslings are known for.
Visit them here: intriguewines.com
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor.
