Simmer Stock - Kitchen scripts: Pan Seared Scallops with Tomatillo sauce and Cumin Salted Tortilla Chips

Pan Seared Scallops with Tomatillo sauce and Cumin Salted Tortilla Chips

Many people (myself included until today) incorrectly refer to Cinco de Mayo as Mexico's independence day. It's actually a holiday meant to commemorate the Mexican victory over French forces in Battle of Puebla in 1862 (Mexico's independence day is actually September 16th). Today the holiday seems to be “little more than St. Patrick's Day toasted with a Corona instead of a Guinness.” In the spirit of returning some civility and respect to the holiday, Simmer Stock offers Pan Seared Scallops with Tomatillo sauce and Cumin Salted Tortilla Chips.

The Tasty Tomatillo

Tomatillos resemble small green tomatoes with papery husks. They have a mild bright tart flavor and are used almost exclusively in salsas (fresh or cooked). Tomatillos can be found either fresh or canned at many American markets these days. Fresh are preferable to canned, but only if they are in good condition. The husks should be uniform green in color (broken is OK) and the tomatillo itself should be smooth and medium to dark green. If the husks are blackened and the flesh spotted or pitted in any way, turn to the canned. I've been making tomatillo sauce for years, usually with either chicken enchiladas (cooked chicken meat, onions, cream cheese, jack cheese and diced jalepenos wrapped in corn tortillas, smothered with tomatillo sauce and more cheese, and baked in a casserole) or with fish as in this recipe. The sauce couldn't be easier to prepare, involving little more than boiling whole tomatillos in water or stock with some chopped onion and pepper, pureeing the results and adding some fresh cilantro. With a stove, a saucepan and fifteen minutes to spare, you can make this sauce.

When The Chips Are Down

If you've never made your own tortilla chips, you've been missing out on some great flavor and impress-the-guests opportunities. Bagged chips are fine when watching the game on TV, but seem silly when served as part of a meal. Freshly fried corn chips, however, can be simple to prepare yet add some flavorful pizzazz to an otherwise plain dish. There are two ways to approach do-it-yourself corn chips: as a labor of love or as some quick cooking fun. The labor of love approach calls for rolling your own tortillas from masa harina and water. As with most labor of love approaches, rolling your own can be an enjoyable exercise (with an emphasis on exercise) and will definitely provide the best flavor. But it takes time, perhaps too much time on a sunny spring day for a meal that could otherwise be prepared in under a half hour. The quick and fun fresh corn chip method involves cutting packaged corn tortillas into fun shapes (a great “get the kids involved” task), frying them in oil, and seasoning them with salt and whatever spices and herbs tickle your fancy.

Pan Seared Sea Scallops with Tomatillo Sauce and Cumin Salted Corn Chips

Tomatillo Sauce

1 lb. (usually about a dozen) tomatillos
1 cup chicken stock (or vegetable or water
1 small onion, diced
2 jalepeno peppers, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leave, chopped
1 tsp. salt

Cumin Salted Corn Chips

1 tbs. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp Mexican oregano
1 dozen corn tortillas
oil for frying

Pan Seared Sea Scallops

1 lb. sea scallops
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. unsalted butter
Salt and pepper

Tomatillo Sauce

Add all ingredients for the tomatillo sauce except the cilantro to a sauce pot and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and puree its contents with a hand blender, potato masher or in a regular blender or food processor until smooth (or chunky if you want to go for that rustic feel). Because the flavor of cilantro gets lost when it's cooked, you should hold off on adding the cilantro (and even chopping it if you want to be persnickety) until just before serving. For this meal we'll just set the sauce aside for now (the sauce will also keep nicely for a couple of days in the refrigerator). When we get to the scallops we'll heat the sauce back up and add the cilantro.

Cumin Salted Corn Chips

Mix the salt, cumin and oregano in a small bowl or cup and set aside.

Heat 2" of oil in a heavy skillet to 380° (or crank up the deep fryer if you have one).

Cut tortillas into shapes. Try a combination zigzags, triangles, circles, strips, curved moons. I use a heart shaped cookie cutters for some. Be creative. Get the kids involved. Have fun.

Fry tortilla pieces in batches (probably about 4 batches for a dozen tortillas) until crisp: about 2 minutes. A little brown is OK, but don't let them burn. When crisp, remove the chips from the oil with a strainer, tongs or slotted spoon, quickly drain them on a paper towel covered sheet pan, cookie sheet or plate and sprinkle on some of the salt mixture to taste. The most important thing is to get the seasoning on while the chips are still hot, otherwise it won't stick to the chips.

Pan Seared Sea Scallops

Heat up a large skillet (not a non-stick one if at all possible) over medium-high heat. Don't skimp on the heat. If you're going to err, err on the side of too hot.

Season the scallops with salt and pepper. Add the oil and butter to the pan and when the butter stops foaming, add the scallops and don't touch them. If the scallops won't fit in the pan with a good inch or two between them, cook them in two batches. Did I mention that you shouldn't touch the scallops? I mean it. Don't touch them. Don't shake the pan. Hey, I said don't touch them! Now get away from that pan with that spatula!

When searing any meat (fish, chicken, beef, whatever) you want to put the meat in the hot pan and just leave it there until the sought after crust forms on the bottom. There are two reasons for this: 1) The crust simply will not form if you toss the meat around (or, at least, the meat will be way overcooked by the time the crust forms), and 2) when moving the meat too soon, the lovely crust you're trying to build ends up sticking to the pan rather than the meat. If, on the other hand, you allow the meat and the pan do their little searing embrace on their own for a few minutes, you'll be able to effortlessly lift up your precious piece of meat with a beautifully caramelized brown crust on the bottom.

To occupy yourself while not touching the scallops, you can reheat the tomatillo sauce and toss in the chopped cilantro. For sea scallops the searing process takes only about 3 minutes per side.

Plating

Spoon some tomatillo sauce in the middle of the plate. Arrange three to five scallops on top of the sauce, leaving some space in the middle for the chips. Make a pile of the chips in the middle of the plate. If you've made some particularly interesting shaped chips, place those around the edge of the plate. To finish, you can dust the plate with some cracked black pepper, some fresh cilantro and/or a little bit of chile powder.

Serves 4 adults

Posted on May 05, 2002 @ 08:29 PM

Comments:

MichaelD:

In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is definately a Norte fiesta. When you pick your Tomatillos in the store look for the smaller, firm ones. Large and yellowed - ugh! Solo por Gringos! Also, usually the tomatillos are roasted (not boiled) on a comal. Heat a cast iron pan or comal (circular plate used for cooking tortillas, and dry roasting) and wrap the tomatillos in foil. Put them on the hot comal and roast until they soften and the juice begins to come out into the foil. Yes the bottoms will brown and that is a good thing!
Use the juice with the stock to make the cup of liquid. Put this with the onion in the blender. Usually we don't boil the onion - some people like to also grill the onion dry on the comal for a special touch. Garlic is also a good addition and it can be roasted on the comal until it softens.

Posted on May 10, 2002 @ 04:13 PM