Corn, Chorizo and Scallops
The depth of flavours in this dish are outstanding! Every summer it is a must made with the freshest corn, Spolumbo’s Chorizo and sweet sea scallops. Sometimes we serve it as an appetizer and other times; it is the meal following a green summer salad.
Corn, Chorizo and Scallops
The presentation has a wow factor! Once you get going it isn’t that hard to prepare. Just get organized! Use the leftover buttermilk to marinate chicken pieces another night.
Ingredients
- 3 – 4 cobs of corn (355 gr) after husked and cut from cob
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 (100 gr) link of Chorizo sausage
- ¼ cup (10 gr) chives chopped
- 1 (26 gr) jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup (10 gr) basil, chopped
- 4 – 6 large sea scallops
- 1 TBSP butter
- 1 lime half for squeezing and ½ cut into wedges for serving
Instructions
- Cut corn from the uncooked cob and set aside.
- Remove casing from the Chorizo. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Scramble fry the chorizo, breaking apart until cooked through, 4-5 minutes.
- Place the cooked Chorizo in a fine mesh strainer over a small dish. Press down with the back of a spoon to extract any Chorizo infused oil. There should be about 2 TBSP of chorizo oil.
- Drizzle 1 TBSP back into the Chorizo skillet and in another skillet, drizzle the remaining TBSP. The second skillet is the one the scallops will be sauteed in.
- Return chorizo to skillet and add corn. Stir and let cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Then turn heat off, add jalapeno and chives. Stir and let cool for 5 more minutes.
- Just before starting the scallops, add the buttermilk to the corn ragu and warm over low heat.
- Next heat infused chorizo oil in scallop skillet and add scallops. Cook scallops on medium high heat for 2 minutes, flip and cook another 2 minutes. Add 1 TBSP butter to pan and baste scallops with butter for 1 – 2 more minutes. Turn off heat.
- Stir basil into corn and place in serving dish. Squeeze ½ lime juice over corn.
- Place scallops on corn and drizzle with any remaining butter/oil.
- Serve immediately with lime wedges.
Notes
This dish at first looked easy to pair a wine, but the sweet corn and scallops play against the rich chorizo and jalapeno. Stay away from big red wines and oaky Chardonnay’s. They were delicious, but not with this dish.
An aged Riesling to our surprise was not the one either. Nor was a Pinot Noir but it was better than the Ardal Tempranillo Blend.
If you must have a white and do not like Chablis, a Pinot Gris worked better than the Riesling and oaky Chardonnay.
After many attempts, we’ve paired:
Best was a French Unoaked Chardonnay (Chablis) and a good French Beaujolais.
• Moreau Petit Chablis
• Chateau Fuisse Julienas
• Anita Chinas Brureaux
• Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris