Chef Luke Mersfelder, Bywater, Warren
Here’s one of our favorite dishes—tasty for winter and bright with flavor. Enjoy it for a fun dinner party appetizer or dinner for two for the seafood lovers in your life. The recipe works with scallops and with thinly sliced fresh white fish. Talk to your local fishmonger about what fresh fish is available to serve as crudo. And remember this pro tip: Chill plates ahead of time!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons pickled apple brine*
- 2 tablespoons miso
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (look for a quality “finishing oil”)
- 1—1½ pounds locally landed, sushi-grade sea scallops or other white fish (we get ours from Andrade’s Catch in Bristol)
- 1 cup diced pickled apples*
- 1 cup diced fresh hakurei turnips (or substitute radishes or purple topped turnips)
- Flaky sea salt or coarse kosher salt
- 1 small bunch of tarragon (optional garnish)
- 2 cups cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1—2 firm, crunchy apples such as Honeycrisp
Preparation
Lightly toast sunflower seeds on a sheet pan in a 350°F oven until golden and set aside.
Combine 2 tablespoons apple pickling brine with miso and olive oil and whisk to combine.
Thinly slice scallops or other fish into coins and arrange in overlapping layers on your chilled plates.
Garnish with pickled diced apples and turnips. Drizzle oil-miso mixture over the top and finish with toasted seeds and a pinch of sea salt. Garnish each plate with a few torn tarragon leaves. Enjoy!
*Pickled Apples:
A few hours or up to two days prior to serving, add vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a nonreactive saucepot and simmer until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, allow to cool, then chill in the refrigerator. When ready to add to the chilled brine, peel and cut apples in small dice, add to brine and chill until serving. They will be flavorful enough for the scallops but won’t suffer a day or two of additional pickling. (Add pickled apples to salads or—my favorite—use as a pickled garnish for a Martini. You can use this method for other fruits as well.)
