Grilled Scallop Tacos With Persimmon Salsa
The Chargers and the Colts head back to Cali.
This week, a special treat, as SNF escapes the stultifying death grip of the NFC East, and heads out to the state that knows how to party for some fun in the sun with the Chargers and the Colts. To make it even specialer, Jay Porter, of Linkery fame, volunteered to come through with some sweet Cali grub for the game. You may have read about the Linkery and its no tipping policy this fall in the New York Times magazine, but more important, they are doing some serious farm-to-table and nose-to-tail types of things. It's like Fergus Henderson and Alice Waters had a baby, but with Fergus's sense of humor, and refreshingly devoid of Alice's prim Bay Area messianic narcissism. We will let Jay take it from here:
We had so much fun talking about this that we're going to feature this dish Sunday night along with the game.
Scallops are everyday food around these parts. For this dish, go to a quality fishmonger you trust to have really good stuff and buy some diver scallops. U-8's are great. We're also getting great local persimmons right now, so that will sub for tomatoes this time of year when tomatoes are both awful and from somewhere else. For corn tortillas, go to your nearest Mexican market where they make them fresh every day. While you're there pick up jalapenos, onions, cabbage, a couple limes, and some sour cream.
Before cooking, season the scallops by rub on some sea salt, Spanish paprika, and black pepper in equal parts (save a little extra rub for the white sauce later). Let 'em sit in the seasoning for 20 minutes. Put 'em on the grill -- gas or charcoal. (This is how we cook dinner every night in San Diego, yo.) Toss the tortillas on the grill too.
Make some salsa fresca by dicing 2 jalapenos, 1 red onion, and 2 ripe persimmons (you can do this ahead of time). Add the juice of one lime and a little good salt to taste. Your white sauce (essential to all seafood tacos) is sour cream, squeeze of the lime, and some of the tricolor rub that you made for the scallops. Shred some cabbage.
Slice the scallops and put 'em in the tortilla. Top with the white sauce, then the cabbage and lastly the salsa.
Pair it with a Green Flash West Coast IPA, brewed by our friend and neighbor Chuck Silva and available in most of the nation. Pour a little on the ground in memory of the preseason idea that the Chargers would win the AFC.
