And the heat wave continues…. Who wants to spend time in a hot kitchen, or even standing over a hot grill when it’s THIS hot?! Sometimes even the thought of eating something hot, even if I didn’t prepare it, turns me off when it’s this warm. I know I’ll be complaining about the cold in four months, but I’m from the Midwest, give me a break. We like to complain about the weather! These two recipes, paired with some tortilla chips and a nice cold beer are the PERFECT dinner for a hot summer evening. We had this meal again about a week later when we had friends over. The same night we enjoyed the Blueberry Tequila Ice Cream for dessert!
These recipes are adapted from new favorite cookbook by Rick Bayless, Fiesta at Rick’s. It will easily serve a group of 6-8 people if you’re serving it with other appetizers. I made this a second time using smaller shrimp, and it was a little easier to handle if you wanted to eat it with chips or crackers.
Mexican-Style Shrimp Cocktail
- 1 pound cooked shrimp
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha or 1/4 Mexican hot sauce
- 1/2 cup loosely packed, chopped cilantro (bottom stems cut off)
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 small white onion, chopped
- 3/4 cup clam juice
- salt
- 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- tortilla chips or saltine cracks for serving
In a large bowl, combine the strimp, ketchup, hot sauce, cilantro, lime juice, and onion. Stir in the clam juice. Taste and season with salt if necessary. Regrigerate until ready to serve.
Serve with slices of avocado and accompanied by the chips or crackers. Saltine crackers are the more traditional way of serving, but I prefer the added cruch of the tortilla chips myself.
Scallop Ceviche with Mango and Jicama
Loosely inspired by the Tropical Beach Ceviche in Fiesta at Rick’s
- 8 ounces sea scallops, cut into pieces (or bay scallops, cut in half)
- 1 mango, diced
- 1/2 of large jicima, diced (about one cup)
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1 large avocado, diced
- 1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped, bottom stems removed
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup lime juice
Place the scallops, lime and orange juice in a nonreactive bowl (glass or stainless steel). Cover and refrigerate for about an hour while you prep the remaining ingredients. Drain about half of the juice and then add the mango, jicama, onion, avocado and pepper to the scallops. Toss with cilantro, and season with salt to taste. You can refrigerate the ceviche for about an hour before serving or enjoy right away!
Stay tuned next week for a special guest post by Betsy of BetsyLife! She was kind enough to agree to share a recipe here while the husband and I are in NYC for a week of vacation. Can’t wait to spend time with friends and family there…and of course try some new restaurants!
