Scallops with a green chile sauce

[Recipes Make Magic]

Scallops Vera Cruz with Cool Green Chile Sauce


(my version- this recipe is for 2 persons)
Ingredients:


- 10 -12 large jumbo sea scallops - rinsed under cold water and the small tough side muscle removed


Rub for the scallops


Mix these ingredients together:


- 1/2 tspn each of chili powder, paprika, & kosher salt


- 14 tspn each of cumin, oregano, ground black pepper


- Optionals - 1/4 tspn. of ancho chile powder, or chipotle powder, or both



For coating the scallops:


Finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 fresh lime - added to the above mixed rub


Oil the scallops very lightly with veg oil & coat them with the above rub mixture



Green Chile Sauce:


- 1 or 2 long Anaheim or Poblano chile peppers - ribs & seeds removed - and blackened under the oven broiler for a few minutes, turned once and removed .


When slightly cooled, scrape off and discard as much of the darkened skin as you can & roughly chop the remaining chile meat.


Add the chile meat to a small processor or blender, along with


- 2 roughly chopped scallions (root ends removed)


- 1 diced garlic clove


- 1/4 cup each of sour cream and mayonnaise


- Dash of sugar


- Salt & pepper to taste


- optional - small handful of cilantro leaves


Process in blender to make a slightly coarse sauce, but if it seems too thick, add a little water, and adjust with any seasoning as you see fit.


A layer of this sauce is to be spooned over the bottom of a suitable sized plate, in which the fried scallops are then to be placed over for serving.


(I love this sauce - it's a great taste finish to compliment the scallops)

Saute the scallops in a lightly oiled skillet over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes each side to heat through to opaqueness & be nicely browned.

Add to the sauced plates& serve .

I haven't found a better tasting way to enjoy scallops.

 

[luckytrim]

..... would have loved a shot of that one !

 

[Recipes Make Magic]

..... would have loved a shot of that one !

If you mean a photo of this dish, I'll cook it again soon & post pics.
The sauce makes the dish stand out flavor-wise.

 

[Silversage]

Just curious - why would you rinse scallops in cold water?

 

[Recipes Make Magic]

Just curious - why would you rinse scallops in cold water?

Same reason many people rinse a variety of foods before using/cooking - to remove any odd material picked up along the way - e.g. in the case of scallops, to rinse off any residual sliminess, or other matter which may have been picked up at the seafood processing plant, from in- store handling, or to remove any odd grains of sand which may still be attached.
Just a precaution.

 

[CraigC]

Maybe the scallops were wet packed and the liquid needed to be washed off, too bad the scallops are already ruined from that crap. When it comes to sea scallops, I won't purchase them unless they are dry packed. I really don't like flavors that mask the taste of the scallops. I really like crudo preparations for sea scallops and geoduck, with just a light citrus dressing.

 

[Silversage]

Craig,



I'm with you on the dry pack. If there's any 'sliminess' I'd throw them out. Fresh scallops should never be slimy.

 

[Recipes Make Magic]

Craig,



I'm with you on the dry pack. If there's any 'sliminess' I'd throw them out. Fresh scallops should never be slimy.

My long-time fish market manager advised me that scallops should only be thrown out if they smell bad, that is, have a bad, strong fishy odor.

Scallops can be a tad 'slimy' and still be perfectly good, he said, so some 'sliminess', if that's actually what it is, is not reason enough to toss them out. If they otherwise smell clean, like the ocean, as you expect, then keep them.

He said that many people say scallops are slimy (including me, when I recently used that term, but should have more aptly said 'sticky') when they are in fact nothing more than sticky, or even slippery - which are the terms which should more often be used, rather than slimy.

He went on to point out that some stickiness is not uncommon in scallops, but they are still perfectly fresh & ok.

 

[Silversage]

Ain't that the truth! Are you out of harms way? We're sitting right below the predicted path.

Thanks for asking. I'm between Tampa and Sarasota, so we're clear this time. You and Karen stay safe. Are you going to hunker down or evacuate?

 

[medtran49]

Thanks, we stayed home. Had hotel reservations as we are in a mandatory evac zone and also considered going over to Punta Gorda to DD's home. But, yesterday when they started forecasting wind gusts of only 50ish with max sustained of 30ish and minimal storm surge, if any, we decided to stay put. it has finally started moving again this morning so maybe it will go on its merry way and some help can get to those poor people in the Bahamas.

 

[taxlady]

Obviously prefer fresh, still in the shell diver scallops but don't come across those often. Dry pack frozen are what we get most often. BTW, those scallops in the seafood case have been defrosted unless they are labeled never frozen. Won't buy wet pack for several reasons. They have been treated to a bath of water and sodium tripolyphospate (something like that) that has been absorbed, so you are paying for water/chemicals that affect the ability to sear, as well as change taste and texture, and certainly not for the better.

Thanks. Montreal is far enough from the ocean that I don't want any seafood that isn't live or frozen. If it were never frozen, I doubt it would be very fresh.

I got spoiled when I lived in Copenhagen. The fish monger I went to would run out of fresh fish (delivered by fishermen that morning) by 11 AM. At 6 AM, there was a line halfway around the block of fish mongers and chefs waiting to get the day's fresh seafood.

 

[skilletlicker]

Hey Recipes Make Magic, On behalf of the hoi polloi, thanks for your posts and don't let 'em get you down.

 

[GotGarlic]

Thanks. Montreal is far enough from the ocean that I don't want any seafood that isn't live or frozen. If it were never frozen, I doubt it would be very fresh.

Au contraire A Google search shows me that it's about a six-hour drive from Bar Harbor, Maine. My local fishmonger sometimes gets scallops from somewhere about six hours north of here and they're fine. They're not frozen, but they're kept on ice the entire time.

Also, fresh seafood can be flown live in tanks from thousands of miles away. Modern transportation has advanced about as much as modern medicine.

 

[taxlady]

Au contraire A Google search shows me that it's about a six-hour drive from Bar Harbor, Maine. My local fishmonger sometimes gets scallops from somewhere about six hours north of here and they're fine. They're not frozen, but they're kept on ice the entire time.

Also, fresh seafood can be flown live in tanks from thousands of miles away. Modern transportation has advanced about as much as modern medicine.

You're right. It is possible to get quite fresh seafood almost anywhere. I don't want to pay the kind of prices that result from flying the seafood. So yeah, rich people and people willing to splurge, can have quite fresh seafood in Montreal. I don't fall into either category, though I have bought live lobster. Much simpler to get seafood that was frozen on the fishing vessel. That's about as good as it will get if you don't catch the fish yourself.

 

[Recipes Make Magic]

Hey Recipes Make Magic, On behalf of the hoi polloi, thanks for your posts and don't let 'em get you down.

Thanks for you post.

I belong to 7 or 8 other forms and have been quite happily active in most of them for up to 10 years.

I joined this forum somewhat expecting that the more active, knowledgeable membership might tend to occasionally express a moderate degree of appreciation for a newcomer like me, who has tried to put out a positive effort in good faith, to contribute some of his knowledge, thoughts, ideas, and recipes.

This has transpired to a limited extent from some who have come forward with encouraging posts, and whom I sincerely thank.

I'm encouraged to see though, that I'm not alone in sensing that the forgoing expectation hasn't been quite so positive on all fronts. But I have thick skin, so I'm soldiering on as tactfully as I can.

If my efforts didn't eventually meet with the acceptance of the general hoi polloi, then I would step aside from further contributing.

Sincerely,
Paul

 

[Silversage]

You're right. It is possible to get quite fresh seafood almost anywhere. I don't want to pay the kind of prices that result from flying the seafood. So yeah, rich people and people willing to splurge, can have quite fresh seafood in Montreal. I don't fall into either category, though I have bought live lobster. Much simpler to get seafood that was frozen on the fishing vessel. That's about as good as it will get if you don't catch the fish yourself.

Most of the shellfish I buy is also frozen on the boat. Where we each live, we can get some things fresh caught, but if you really want variety, frozen is the way to go. I can get great mahi, grouper, snapper, etc fresh, but can't get fresh walleye or salmon. They have to be flown in or come frozen. Local Gulf shrimp is great, but crab, sea scallops, etc are better frozen. And Florida lobster can't hold a candle to Maine lobster!



The 'discussion' wasn't really about the quality of fresh over frozen. In that, we all live where we live, and get what we can get. The differing opinion was over wet vs dry pack scallops, and more specifically, washing off 'slime'. BTW if any of you live near a Costco, they usually have great dry pack scallops in the U8-10-12 range.



Taxi, I bet you get great walleye, smelt & salmon!

 

[taxlady]

Right, the rinsing of scallops. I was just reading that one reason to rinse, if it isn't wet pack, is to get rid of sand.

 

[Recipes Make Magic]

Pic I promised of Scallops Vera Cruz we had tonite - they were excellent !

 

[Recipes Make Magic]

Here it is

 

[Cheryl J]

Here it is

Looks delish! Nice and caramelized. Thank you for sharing, RMM.