I’ll start by saying I know this isn’t technically ceviche, hence the quotations. Ceviche is “a South American dish of marinated raw fish or seafood, typically garnished and served as an appetizer”.
That said, I don’t heck with raw fish at home and frankly, cooking shrimp in lime juice kinda weirds me out. I’ll happily eat it at a restaurant but at home, I’d just prefer to cook it. So here we cook our shrimp first, and bonus, we load it with flavor at the same time, and then we call it a day.
The second thing I’ll say, this recipe takes a hot minute. It’s pretty simple and I would say extremely worth it, but you need to let a few things cool, and a few things marinate. The total prep time is about 30-45 minutes. Then you need to let it sit for an hour or two. BUT I wouldn’t share a recipe this lengthy unless I 100% approve.
Lastly, well I’m sure you’re thinking it 😉 I am NOT a genius for “inventing this”, I actually heard a friend mention “bloody mary ceviche” on their instagram story and immediately needed it so ran to the kitchen to create it. The recipe is 100% my own, but the idea comes from there :)
Bloody Mary “Ceviche”
Cook time: 30 minutes for prep, 2 hours to marinate
Serves: 3-6 people depending on if it’s a meal or an appetizer
🍴Tools required:
Chef’s knife
Cutting board (not my exact one but very similar)
Pot (“Perfect Pot” in Sage)
Small fry pan (8”)
Spider (or use regular tongs)
Glasses for serving (RACHELHALLDORSON10OFF for 10% off)
🥬Grocery List:
Protein
1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp
Produce
1 small head fennel
3 limes
2 Persian cucumbers
5 stalks celery
1 jalapeno
Pantry
1 tbsp + 1 tsp celery salt
1 bay leaf
2 cups tomato sauce
1/4 cup vodka
1-2 tsp Worcestershire
1-2 tsp hot sauce of your choice
1-2 tsp horseradish (optional)
1/4 tsp MSG (optional)
Tortilla chips
👩🍳Recipe:
(Note the ingredients above are the same as the ingredients listed below, just in an order easier for you to shop in! So don’t accidentally buy double)
For the poached shrimp
1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp
1 small head fennel
1 stalk celery
1 tbsp celery salt
1 bay leaf
2 limes
For the tomato sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
1/4 cup vodka
To assemble
2 Persian cucumbers
2 stalks celery
1 jalapeno
1 lime
1/2 tsp celery salt
1-2 tsp Worcestershire
1-2 tsp hot sauce of your choice
1-2 tsp horseradish (optional)
1/4 tsp MSG (optional)
To serve
Celery salt to rim glass
Tortilla chips
Celery to garnish
Instructions:
Reduce your tomato sauce. Add tomato sauce to a small saucepan and cook on medium-high heat for about 20 minutes, until reduced by half. In the final few minutes, add 1/4 cup vodka and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.
Poach your shrimp. To a large pot, add 1 small head fennel, 1 stalk celery, 1 tbsp celery salt, 1 bay leaf, 2 limes and enough water to cover it all (about 6 cups) and bring to a boil. Prepare an ice bath now. After the liquid has boiled for a few minutes, add in shrimp and remove from heat. Cover and let sit for 3-5 minutes depending on the size of the shrimp and whether or not they were frozen. Remove shrimp and add to ice bath immediately. Let cool for a couple minutes and then remove from ice so they don’t lose all the flavor you just added in!
Assemble your “ceviche”. Chop shrimp, celery and cucumber into small pieces and add to a bowl. Finely dice jalapeno and add to mixture. Add in juice of 1 lime, 1/2 tsp celery salt, 1/4 tsp msg, 1 tsp each of Worcestershire, hot sauce and horseradish. Add in half of your reduced tomato sauce and mix well. Now this part is up to you, add more Worcestershire, hot sauce, horseradish and tomato juice as you see fit to bring it a consistency and flavor level you want. Depending on the size of your shrimp and veggie pieces, you may need or more or less tomato juice so I’m leaving it up to you. The image below is the consistency I like.
Cover and let sit in fridge for 1-2 hours, up to overnight.
Serve as is with your chips, or assemble into glasses that have been rimmed with celery salt. I got 3 full glasses from this amount.
Notes:
Vodka: can you skip it? Absolutely. It does add a bit of depth to the flavor but you can skip it no problem.
Shrimp: I have not tried subbing in another protein here, I’d recommend sticking with shrimp as the flavors are intended specifically for shrimp.
Celery salt: if you don’t want to buy celery salt just for one recipe, no worries sub in regular salt in the poaching step, and remove from the assembly step.
MSG: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it has been debunked as unhealthy and it adds such a flavor bomb. Buy yourself a bag and it will last for years. Can you skip it, yes, should you, no.
Anything else? Drop a comment below if you have any questions, and don’t forget to let me know if you make it!