Invite us on a boat, and you’ll get this. Whether you like it or not, I’m gonna make it. Coctel campechano and boats go together like chips and salsa.
Dont want to hear me ramble on and on... get just the recipe here!
Michelle learned about my way-or-the-highway thoughts around food and travel real quick when we first met. Nine years later, fish is now her favorite food and we fly all the time haha.
Back to the boats! Some dear friends of ours who love cooking as much as I do invited us out for a day on their boat. I couldn’t think of anything better to bring than mason jars full of seafood cocktails to go with the other cocktails we’d be having.
And honestly, after thinking about it, in the recent past, every time I’ve been on a boat, I’ve made this.
Recipe Supplies:
• White Fish (1 lb… I used rockfish)
• Calamari Steak (1 good size)
• Shrimp (1 lb large)
• Crab (1 can)
• Limes & Lemon (2 lemons & 6 Limes)
• Avocado (1.5 large hass)
• Cilantro (1 bushel)
• Jalepeno (1 large)
• Garlic Cloves (5-7)
• Red Onion (1/2 onion)
• Clam Juice (8 onces)
• Mexican Hot Sauce (to taste)
• Tomato Juice (16 onces)
• Horse Radish (couple teaspoons to taste)
• EVOO
• Salt & Pepper (to taste)
• Onion & Garlic Powder (to taste)
• Cayenne (to taste)
Instructions:
Start by chopping all the fish and calamari into small pieces. We’re going to cook these in lime and lemon juice before we combine everything together.
Once all the meat is cut, season with a little bit of salt and pepper and put it into a mixing bowl. Juice enough lemon and lime to cover the fish in the bowl. Cover it and put it in the fridge while you make the rest of the recipe. Make sure to stir the fish every once in a while so it cooks evenly in the citrus mix.
Deshell and devein your shrimp. Put the cleaned shrimp in a mixing bowl, coat with EVOO, and season generously with salt and pepper, onion and garlic powder, and a few dashes of cayenne. Mix the shrimp so they’re coated evenly and set aside while you chop up all your veggies.
Finely chop the cilantro, red onion, avocado, and jalapeño. Make sure to taste your pepper to see what you’re dealing with (keep the seeds if you want more heat; lose them if necessary). Mince or press your garlic cloves with a press.
Now that everything is prepped and your fish is still cooking in the juice, you can cook your shrimp. You could just cook all the seafood in the lime juice, but I like the contrast of the seasoned, seared shrimp mixed with the other pieces cooked in lime.
Get a pan hot… once it’s warm, add a bit more EVOO to coat the bottom. Then cook your shrimp for about a minute on each side. I put the shrimp clockwise around the pan and then flip them in that same order so they cook evenly. Once they’re done, remove them (and any remaining juice from the pan) and put them in a bowl to cool.
Once the shrimp are cool enough to handle, cut them into thirds. (You can keep them whole, but I like getting shrimp in every bite — just my opinion.)
By this time, your fish that’s been cooking in the lime juice should be done. Now you’re going to combine everything.
Get another large mixing bowl and add the fish (removed from the citrus), the shrimp, the crab (with the juice from the can), the veggies, peppers, clam & tomato juice, and garlic.
Season everything to taste with hot sauce, horseradish, S&P, onion & garlic powder, cayenne, and a couple dashes of EVOO and the lime juice mixture. It took me a few rounds of seasoning and tasting before I got to where I was happy with the finished result. My guesstimates are above.
