Tacos de Camarones (Shrimp Tacos)

When living in Guadalajara, my sister asked me what I would like for Christmas. I said I would like anything culinary. She bought me three of her favorites in Mexico: Maseca, a tortilla press, and a tortilla warmer.

The maseca (Corn flour) was a bit of an intimidating item, because all of the instructions were in Spanish.

The dough was sticky, so I used wax paper on the tortilla press.

I grilled the tortillas on the flat side of my C+B grill pan, and added grilled shrimp, peach and mango salso, and a sweeze of lime.

Thank you sister!

Pan Seared Sea Scallops

“Let’s stay the night in Vegas.”

This was the suggestion from my husband, on the plane from Chicago to Portland. We were about to have a one hour layover in Vegas, and he wanted to make it 24 hours. Once we landed, we had 45 mintues to make it happen. He was online finding a hotel on the strip, I went to the ticket agent to change our tickets. A few swipes of the credit card later, and we were in a taxi on the way to the hotel.

Las Vegas Blvd is hot and crowded on a Saturday evening in August. Our destination for the eveing was to go to the Belagio for dinner. The first restaurant we looked at had Pan Seared Sea Scallops, and that is what I had my heart set on. The menu out side of the door listed scallops at $22. We decided that was a reasonable price for Vegas. Inside, as I opened the menu, the same scallops had the price of $45 for two scallops. I changed the desire of my heart for the night to pizza, but still had scallops on my mind.

Back in Portland, still craving seafood, I found these Gi-normous scallops at safeway for $7.99/lb. Compared to $45 for two, this was a good deal.

I seared them with Old Bay Seasoning.

Pan Seared Sea Scallops

2-3 large scallops per person.
Rinse and pat dry scallops.
Season both sides with salt and pepper
Sprinkle one teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning on each side

Heat a stainless steel pan over high heat until very hot. Add a teaspoon of olive oil. Place scallops on pan. Do not move. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until bottom is golden brown. Turn with spatula and sear the other side. Remove and serve with salad.