Bay Scallop Tacos with Hot Vanilla Cream

Wait! Is there vanilla in my taco?!???!!! Yep. And it works perfectly well. Think about it. Sweet bay scallops in a punchy, tangy lime-chipotle marinade, with a double dose of earthy flavors from hominy and corn, topped with crunchy raw veggies marinated in more lime juice. It sounds good already but you go and take it to the next level with a big hug of dairy. Now what does hot vanilla does to this dairy? It echos the sweetness of the bay scallops, brings in a different source of tanginess to complement the lime marinade, and as I had mentioned before, dry chiles and vanilla are good companions. They play well together, to their strengths.

Ok, if the talking didn’t do it for you, just try it. You’ll see what I mean.

Recipe

Makes 4 tacos

Ingredients:

1/3 pound bay scallops, thawed and pat dry

1/2 Tbs salt

2 Tbs grapeseed oil or other neutral flavored oil

1 cups cooked hominy (from fresh or frozen)

1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen, yellow or white)

1 1/2 Tbs chipotle in adobo puree *

1 lime juice

1 cup vanilla yogurt (Or plain with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract added)

1/4 cup thinly sliced red cabbage (cucumber or green papaya works well too)

4 Corn tortillas

*NOTE: Chipotle in adobo come in whole. To take advantage of their whole flavor and to be practical, I always blend them to a fine puree.

Make the Tacos:

1) Sprinkle scallops with a generous pinch of salt. Heat up the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the scallops and cook for 2 minutes without stirring. Don’t crowd the pan, work in batches if you need to.

2) Add hominy and corn to the pan and give it a gentle stir. Lower the heat to medium and add chipotle and the juice of half the lime. Season with a pinch of salt. Turn off the heat.

3) In a small size bowl, combine remaining 1 Tbs of chipotle with the vanilla yogurt. Set aside. For the veggie garnishes, slice them very thinly and sprinkle them with some lime juice.

4) Heat up the tortillas in a stove top grill, flat grill or directly on the burner. When pliable and hot, put them on a plate, spoon a generous serving of hot vanilla yogurt on each one and distribute the scallop mixture on top. Garnish with the crunchy veggies and enjoy

Provecho!