Plantains, lime, jicama, tomato, mango, chile... fresh produce connected by strong bold flavors. After spending the last few weekends out of town, from El Salvador, to Yosemite, to the Shenandoah, I finally found myself with a couple hours to spare after a fully-charged weekend (ran my first 10K and participated in a two-day parkour/free running seminar).
I had initially planned to do a grilled mahi fillet with mango-jicama salsa. No jicama to be found. Hmm. I strolled by the fish counter. Mahi was super expensive, but wild caught bay scallops were on sale. Bay scallops are known for their sweet flavor. Perfect -- Pan Roasted Bay Scallops with Mango Cucumber Salsa accompanied by Plantain Chips. Fast, healthy, and easy.
The Mango Cucumber Salsa was a simple mixture of the following ingredients finely diced: 1 small heirloom tomato, 1/4 cup vidalia onion, 5 inches of an english cucumber, 1 small ataulfo mango (aka champagne mango, aka lil yellow mango), a handful of cilantro, juice of 1 lime, and salt. The salsa was good, but lacked a good crunch which I thought the cucumber would provide. Jicama would have been perfect, but an unripe peach would do as well.
Normally, when I make Plantain Chips, they are done with green plantains and come out crunchy with a light char. However, this time, my plantain was closer to ripe than green, so when I lightly pan-fried these in my cast iron skillet on medium heat that was sprayed lightly with canola oil, they didn't crisp up like they normally do. They are still delicious, but need a closer eye because ripe plantains have more sugar which burns more quickly. These are sweet so its a good idea to throw a little salt for seasoning to offset the sweetness (but salt after they are done, not before). Its good to prep these by cutting at an angle and in thin slices regardless of how green or ripe your plantain is for quick even cooking. Throw these onto a plate with a paper towel until ready to serve.
Last but not least, rinse the bay scallops and throw into the same cast iron skillet and let brown a little each side. I had to spray the pan again with canola oil since they stuck a little, but you want some nice browning on the scallops to sear in the juices and flavor. I only seasoned them with salt. As these guys were cooking, I wilted about a cup of baby spinach in the microwave . I tossed the bay scallops around for about 3 minutes, and then turned the heat off. Its better to undercook scallops than overcook. Mine were just about perfect!
I served the scallops on top of the bed of wilted spinach and topped the whole shebang with my salsa. Hugely satisfying and the whole thing only took about 20 minutes to pull together from start to finish. Next time, I'll use a green plantain as the whole thing was a little too sweet. Green plantain would have perfectly balanced out the sweetness of the salsa and scallop.
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