Shrimp and Scallop Salad with Mango Salsa

I find that when people visit from other areas of the country and are invited to dinner, they expect certain foods to be served. For instance, if I visit my sister in Texas, I hope she’ll prepare some of my Tex-Mex favorites, since good Mexican food is hard to find where we live in the mountains. If we’re going to Maine, I want lobster and lots of it. If we drive over to eastern North Carolina to see friends, I always have my fingers crossed they’ll roast a pig they are so famous for that’s basted with vinegary eastern Carolina BBQ sauce. Last year when we visited our old home in Abaco, I couldn’t get my fill of spicy Bahamian fresh conch salad with fiery bird or goat peppers and seasoned ever so lightly with native sour oranges.

If you live in Florida as we do in the winter, guests expect seafood. I like to have a recipe up my sleeve that’s easy, so when people call and say, “We’re just driving by. Can we stop and say hello?” I can eagerly answer, “Yes and please stay for dinner” and mean it. If you live in a tourist area, it’s smart to be prepared, because people are bound to drop by unexpectedly sooner or later.

By easy, I mean two different kinds of easy. The first easy means easy to put together. I want to spend time with my guests, not be stuck in the kitchen. The second easy is versatility. I want a recipe where I can easily substitute ingredients and know that the recipe will still work.

This seafood salad fills both bills. It can be put together in under thirty minutes, perhaps even fifteen if you multitask. If the scallops don’t look good at the market, use all shrimp. If you don’t want to use shellfish, fish or even grilled chicken would work well. We’ve used broiled salmon or mahi mahi (also known as dolphin fish) many times with great success. Perhaps you remember this salmon with fruit salsa.

No mangos? Use peaches, nectarines, cantaloupe or honeydew. Want it spicier? Leave some of the seeds in the chopped jalapeno. If you have a guest who doesn’t like cilantro (and there are definitely some of those), leave it out or use some flat leaf parsley. Just don’t leave out the tomato, onion, or basil. They are the foundation of the salad. After that, almost anything goes.

Do you have foods that people expect to be served when they visit you?

Seared Shrimp and Scallop Salad with Mango Salsa
Adapted from Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection

10 large scallops, preferably dry pack
10 large shrimp, wild caught, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Baby lettuce mix, for serving
Mango salsa, recipe below

Dry the scallops and shrimp well. Heat the olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet, add the butter and, when it has melted and starts to foam, put the shrimp and scallops in the frying pan. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook for 3 – 4 minutes, or until lightly golden on both sides and just tender to the touch, taking care not to overcook. Arrange a bed of baby lettuce mix on four plates and spoon over the salsa. Top with warm scallops and shrimp, and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Mango Salsa
Adapted from Little Moir’s Food Shack, Jupiter, Florida 

2 mangos, peeled and diced
1 ripe tomato, diced
½ of a red onion, minced
Juice of ½ to 1 lime
1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons rice vinegar (unseasoned)
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh basil, cut into a chiffonade
1 tablespoon honey
1 - 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl and gently toss. Serve immediately, or can be left at room temperature for up to an hour. Taste before serving and add more salt, pepper, rice vinegar, honey, or hot pepper to taste if necessary.

Spicy Fruit Salsa inspired by The Food Shack, Jupiter, Florida

Fruit salsas are very popular to serve with fish. I’ve seen numerous recipes in food magazines recently. We ate at Little Moir’s Food Shack, a fish joint in Jupiter, Florida that served a spicy, sweet, and colorful fruit salsa with a tuna basil roll, which quickly became my favorite. I had never tasted anything like the fruit salsa before. It was sweet, spicy and hot all at the same time and it burst in my mouth with flavor. They use whatever fruit is in season; currently it’s a melon combination. I personally prefer the mangos, nectarines and tomatoes, which was in the salsa the first time I tried it there. Taste and adjust ingredients as you go. If you like it spicy, add more peppers. They grow their own peppers and I’ve never quite gotten a handle on what they are, but they are spicier than the jalapenos I use.

The Food Shack is in an ordinary looking strip mall stuck in between a dentist office and H & R Block where you think you would least likely find a great seafood restaurant. Owner Mike Moir (rhymes with foyer) is the head chef and a genius when it comes to seafood. He calls his cooking “a simple twist of taste,” but it’s far superior to simple. The small dining room is long and narrow with hand painted tables that Mike made himself. Surfboards and children’s paintings adorn the walls. A young and attentive staff takes care of your every need. They also happen to serve some of the best soups I’ve ever eaten. The Soup Nazi is a wizard when it comes to unique and flavorful combinations. We were there a couple of weeks ago and my husband had the sweet potato, coconut, ginger and crab soup that was fabulous. My favorite appetizer is the deep fried tuna basil roll with wasabi dipping sauce served with the spicy fruit salsa. The tuna is very rare and the egg roll like shell is light and crispy. My husband’s favorite is Panko fried oysters over greens, mixed fruit and gorgonzola.

The "joint jumps" as they say and has definitely been discovered. They don’t take reservations and the line can be so long on Saturday night that there are tailgate parties in the parking lot waiting for their name to be called. Little Moir’s Food Shack is open from 11 to 9, closed on Sunday. Our favorite time to go is either around 11 when they first open or late afternoon before the dinner crowd.

Here’s a portion of the New York Times Sunday review:

“Concealed in the back of a strip mall along U.S. Highway 1 in Jupiter, Little Moir's Food Shack looks as if a raucous Key West bar had been uprooted and trucked up north. Not only is this the coolest place I visited but it's also among the best, turning out terrific and creative local seafood with Caribbean and Asian accents.” Continued…….

This is our version of their salsa. We serve it with simple broiled salmon but it would be equally terrific with fresh tuna or grilled chicken.

My Carolina Kitchen's Version of Little Moir’s Food Shack Fruit Salsa

1 large mango, peeled and diced

1 large nectarine or peach, peeled & diced

1 tomato, peeled, seeded & diced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced or well chopped

Juice of ½ to 1 lime

1 tablespoon hot pepper such as jalapeño, minced

2 to 4 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 to 2 tablespoons honey

1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons minced cilantro

2 tablespoons fresh basil, cut in chiffonade

Place all ingredients in a bowl and gently toss. Season to taste with salt & freshly ground black pepper. Serve within 30 minutes of mixing as it can get watery. Do not omit the cilantro or the basil. Serves 4.

Printable recipe

Simple Broiled Salmon
My Carolina Kitchen's basic recipe

2 pounds boneless wild salmon fillets, preferable with the skin left intact

2 to 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil, or other neutral tasting oil 

Salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut the salmon into four pieces approximately the same size and weight. Put salmon in a dish; rub with oil, salt & pepper and let sit at room temperature for 10 to 20 minutes. Preheat the broiler.

Arrange fish in one layer, skin side down, on an unheated sheet pan lined with heavy duty foil for easy clean-up. Place the fish under the broiler about three inches from the source of heat. Broil 8 to 10 minutes or just until the pieces are cooked through. It is not necessary to turn the fish. If fish starts to get too crispy on the top, change from broil to bake and bake at 400 degrees until done. Do not overcook. Serves 4.

Printable recipe