Today, I’m proud to share one of my blogger friend’s latest e-cookbooks: Food From Our Ancestors: The Ultimate Mexican Sunday Dinner by Liz Della Croce and one of the recipes from her book! Let’s recreate her shrimp ceviche with one of Martha’s Vineyard favorite seafood, bay scallops!
Winter in New England is tough, so those of us living here try to stay sane by cooking up recipes that remind us that summer is now too far away. Recipes like ceviche, which we would typically eat on the beach with our toes in the sand, really bring us feelings of warmth and sunnier days. That’s why I choose to recreate Liz’s Shrimp ceviche from her cookbook Food From Our Ancestors: The Ultimate Mexican Sunday Dinner but decided to use bay scallops instead of shrimp, for a touch of New England inspiration.
The season for fresh sea scallops and bay scallops runs from October through March, so when I walked over to my neighborhood seafood market, they were at their prime. Not only were they fresh, but scallops are an excellent source of vitamin B12 and phosphorus. They are also a very good source of protein, selenium and choline as well as a good source of zinc, magnesium and potassium, making them a healthy choice as long as you don’t deep fry them! Stick to ceviche and you’re fine.
This ceviche recipe is packed with healthy avocado, tomatoes, spicy peppers, and a good squeeze of lime. I had a half lemon rolling around that I also added to the mix – because you can’t get enough Vitamin C this season!
Make sure to order your own copy of Food From Our Ancestors: The Ultimate Mexican Sunday Dinner by Liz Della Croce of The Lemon Bowl food blog – it’s packed to the brim with some incredible recipes I plan to make the rest of this winter, like Pozole Rojo, Mexican Rice, and Enchiladas Verdes.
Bay Scallop Ceviche

Ingredients
- 1 pound raw shrimp or bay scallops peeled and deveined
- 1 cup lime juice
- 1 cup minced cilantro
- 1 1 ⁄2 cups diced red onion
- 2 diced tomatoes
- 2 cucumbers seeded and diced
- 5 serranos stems removed and minced
- 2 tablespoons oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 2 avocados sliced
- tostadas saltines, hot sauce, black pepper to serve
Instructions
- Wash the shrimp and mince into small pieces. Place in a large bowl and toss with lime
- juice. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
- Meanwhile, stir together cilantro, onion, tomato, cucumber, serranos and oregano in a medium bowl. Once the shrimp marinates, remove any excess moisture that accumulated into a small bowl. Reserve in case you need to add liquid at the end.
- Add the cilantro onion mixture to the large bowl of shrimp along with the tomato puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with avocado slices and saltine crackers or tostadas.
DID YOU TRY THIS RECIPE? I want to see it! Follow Cooking with Books on Instagram, take a photo, and tag me in it. I love to know what you are making and how you made this recipe your own!
Did I miss the nutrition info?
Can this be made with previously frozen scallops, shrimp, and squid?
I would recommend fresh for this, sorry!
This recipe sounds delicious. It calls for raw scallops or shrimp, but they’re not cooked at any point in the recipe. Do you eat them raw?
yes, it’s a raw preparation! The acid in the citrus cooks them!
Just made this last night with bay scallops from Cape Poge for a Mexican dinner at a friend’s house. Delicious and so easy. Will definitely be making it again. And again. Thanks Marnely!
Thank you so much for sharing my friend! I love that you used local scallops!!! xoxo