The raw and the cooked

After work I headed for the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero, a five minute cab ride from my office. I had intended to only get ingredients for wild bay scallop ceviche. But when I saw the wild-caught ahi and fresh shucked oysters in a jar, I could not resist making a trio of the raw and citrus-cooked.

First the wild bay scallop ceviche. The fish monger gave me his favorite recipe: first wash the scallops, drain then pat dry with paper towels. Combine the juice of 2 limes, salt, jalapeno, tomatoes and avocados diced small, a handful of fresh coriander leaves and pour this over the scallops. Cover and chill for at least a half hour.

For the kilawin oysters, I rough chopped the oysters and tossed this in a simple marinade of white palm vinegar, diced red onions, salt, half a lemon and unseeded jalapeno.

I used a poke mix for the ahi tuna, soaking the seaweed in water first, then combining this with the rock salt and spice mix along with sesame seed oild.

I also prepared seared hanger steak that the butcher butterflied and spiced heavily with cumin and other pungent flavors. I sliced the steak on the bias and placed these in red butter lettuce leaves, topped with the scallop ceviche salsa for a healthy surf & turf "fajita".