Recipe: Calamondin citrus-scallop aguachile

Quick introduction to Chef David and our new Chef’s Choice series

Calamondin citrus-scallop aguachile is the first recipe in our new Chef’s Choice recipe series created by James Beard-nominated chef, David Porras. The goal of this series is to educate and inspire your inner home chef while introducing you to amazing, unusual ingredients. 

This month, we challenged Chef David to turn our homegrown orange-ripe calamondin citrus (aka calamansi) into a healthy, delicious recipe that’s simple enough to make at home but sophisticated enough to be served at a high-end restaurant.  (Related article: How to grow and use calamondin citrus)

Substitution note: Don’t have calamondins? A 50-50 mix of tangerine and lemon juice will provide a close flavor proximation. 

Aaron the interpreter   

This recipe is 100% Chef David’s creation, which is why it appears under his profile on this website. However, this article is written by non-chef Aaron (half of team Tyrant). Why?

Most home cooks are in a stone’s throw of my culinary skill level. However, Chef David’s skill level is waaaay beyond mine.

Thus, one of my roles in this collaboration is to work with Chef David to make each Chef’s Choice recipe simple enough to be accessible to regular mortal home cooks like me. Once Chef David finalizes a recipe, we sample it, I ask a ton of questions, re-create it in my home kitchen, then do my best to translate everything for you (dear reader).  

What is aguachile? 

Aguachile is a raw seafood dish originating in northwest Mexico. It’s typically made with fresh shrimp submerged in a citrus-pepper brine and served with veggies such as onions and cucumbers. 

Aguachile vs ceviche 

If aguachile sounds a bit like ceviche, that’s because the two dishes are very similar. The main difference?

• With ceviche, the protein marinates in citrus juice (the acid “cooks” it) for anywhere from 20 minutes to multiple hours.
• With aguachile, the protein is quickly coated in a citrus brine (via tossing or pouring) then immediately eaten. 

Since fresh scallops are such a delicate protein, they’re perfect for aguachile. 

Five things I learned from Chef David during recipe creation:  

I consider myself a fairly competent and experienced home cook, but working with Chef David in his kitchen for an hour affirmed just how little I know. I felt like a toddler trying to keep up with Usain Bolt in the 100 yard dash.

Here are five things I learned from Chef David during recipe creation that may be helpful for you as well: 

1. How to quickly take the bite out of onions — or enhance them.

You can quickly get rid of the unpleasant intense flavors of raw onions by soaking sliced onions in ice water for 10-30 minutes. Likewise, you can do the same plus add interesting flavor to the onions by soaking them in an acidic liquid like vinegar or citrus juice for 10-20 minutes. 

2. Pectinase is magical kitchen potion. 

Pectinase, aka polygalacturonase, is a natural enzyme that breaks down pectin structure. Apparently, it’s commonly used in professional kitchens but not in home kitchens. 

In the first iteration of this recipe, Chef David put whole calamondin fruit in pectinase for 48 hours to render it into liquid form. However, we thought the resulting liquid was a little too bitter for most peoples’ tastes due to the inclusion of calamondin citrus skins. Plus, we figured many people wouldn’t like the idea of having to do something two days in advance to make a recipe. So we didn’t end up using pectinase in this recipe, but we certainly will in the future.

For reference, the pectinase product Chef David uses is Pure Pectinex Ultra-SPL and it has all sorts of interesting applications.

3. Quick homemade feta cheese and cilantro-pepper paste? 

Chef David’s mind works like a firework. One recipe idea shoots up in the air, then twenty other ideas explode and branch off of it. He also hates waste (even compost waste), so he finds a use for everything.

In this calamondin-scallop aguachile recipe, Chef David also creates two really interesting side recipes/ingredients:

• feta cheese substitute – made while making the calamondin-buttermilk clarification, and
• creamy cilantro-pepper paste – made while making the jalapeño-cilantro oil.

Details on both below. 

4. Raw scallops are amazing. 

Raw scallops are not only edible, they’re amazing! They’re buttery, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth tender, and savory/umami all at the same time. 

Hopefully obvious disclaimer: only eat high quality once-frozen scallops if you’re eating them raw. Ideally, the scallops you use were flash-frozen to preserve freshness prior to being thawed for use.     

Also, Chef David recommends using U10 scallops for this recipe. That’s something else I learned: there is specific terminology to delineate each size of scallop, and U10 are large scallops. By definition, “U10” means there are under 10 total scallops in one pound. 

When recreating this recipe, my nearby Publix only had U15 scallops (a bit smaller), but they worked fine, too.  

5. Scallops have feet? 

No, scallops don’t actually have feet. They’re bivalve mollusks after all. But when you buy large scallops, you might notice there’s a small tough piece of meat on the side which is referred to as a scallop “foot.” 

The scallop foot is perfectly edible, but it’s typically removed prior to use at fine restaurants since it’s tougher than the rest of the meat. On male scallops, the foot is white. On female scallops, the foot is more orange-colored. Whether or not you remove your scallop’s feet is up to you. 

Chef David’s U10 scallops came from a local seafood market and still had feet. My U15 scallops from Publix already had their feet removed. 

Step-by-step: How to make calamondin-scallop aguachile 

Ok, now let’s walk through the how-to part of this recipe… There’s a summary recipe card and instructions at the bottom, but we provide more details and photos in this section. 

Two recommendations before we get started:

1. The first three steps will take about an hour to complete. The resulting parts also need to chill before you use them. Thus, we recommend doing the first three steps up to a day ahead of time, then storing the components in your fridge until you’re ready to plate.  
2. You could probably make up to 3 pounds of scallops with this recipe. It just depends on how much of the liquid you want to serve your scallops with/in. For reference, a dinner sized portion of scallops is about 6 ounces whereas an appetizer size portion is about 3 ounces. If you’re serving in a bowl with a lot of liquid, err towards 1-2 pounds of scallops.   

Step 1: Make calamondin-buttermilk clarification

What it is: The calamondin-buttermilk clarification is one half of the calamondin citrus brine. You’ll combine this buttermilk clarification with the calamondin-pepper-ginger juice from Step 3.

Supplies/tools needed:

• saucepan
• strainer/sieve + paper coffee filter or cheesecloth to remove finer sediments
• mason jar

Ingredients:

• 600g whole organic buttermilk (2 1/2 cups)
• 1 dried chipotle, seeds removed
• 100g calamondin juice from orange-ripe fruit (about 1/2 cup or juice of ~8 calamondin fruits)
• pinch of salt

Instructions: 

1. Juice calamondins and strain pulp. Save skins to make bitters or other recipes. 
2. Bring buttermilk and dried chipotle to a quick boil, stirring regularly while heating to prevent scalding on bottom of pan. (Yes, you’re trying to get the buttermilk to curdle/break.) 
3. Once boiling, add the calamondin juice then immediately remove pan from the heat. 
4. After 5 minutes, strain out the coagulated buttermilk solids. Strain 2 or 3 times before final straining through coffee filter or cheesecloth. 
5. Refrigerate. 

*Extra notes:

a. The strained solids from the buttermilk can be used to make a really good feta cheese substitute (albeit with a much lower salt/sodium level)! Let it dry out in the strainer for 20 minutes, then save it in a container in your fridge. You’ll end up with about 2 1/2 cups of calamondin-buttermilk clarification and about 1/2 cup of cheese.  

b. When re-creating this recipe in my kitchen, I stored the strained buttermilk in a jar in our fridge and noticed more liquidy fats had congealed on the surface the next day. I strained these, added them to the cheese, put in a generous pinch of salt, and mixed it all together.    

Step 2: Make cilantro-jalapeño oil

What it is: Cilantro-jalapeño oil adds a wonderful flavor and gorgeous green color to the liquid that the scallops are served with.  

Supplies/tools needed:

• saucepan (maybe)
• blender
• fine metal sieve
• cheese cloth or coffee filter
• kitchen thermometer (not essential) 

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch (about 2 ounces) fresh cilantro, ideally garden-fresh
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds removed (if you don’t like hot, leave this ingredient out)
• 3/4 cup organic canola oil or grape seed oil (alternately: you could use extra virgin olive oil but it will impart more flavor that could hide other flavors)

There are two different methods you could use to make jalapeño-cilantro oil:

Blender-only instructions (Method 1):

1. Place cilantro, jalapeño, and oil in blender. Blend for about 2-3 minutes until approximately 149°F / 65°C (ingredients will heat up from the friction of the blender).
2. While still warm, immediately pass oil through a fine sieve (or a strainer lined with cheesecloth) into a glass jar.
3. Immediately cool in your fridge so the color doesn’t fade.

Stovetop + blender instructions (Method 2):

1. Bring oil to 285°F / 140°C in small saucepan. Place other ingredients in blender. 
2. Pour heated oil into blender and blend for one minute. 
3. Immediately pass oil through a fine sieve (or a strainer lined with cheesecloth) into a glass jar, being careful not to burn yourself. 
4. Immediately cool in your fridge so color doesn’t fade.

*Regardless of which method you choose, save your leftover cilantro-jalapeño paste to use as a spread. It also goes really well with the resulting calamondin-feta cheese from the prior step! 

Step 3: Make calamondin-hot pepper-ginger juice

What it is: The calamondin-hot pepper-ginger juice will be mixed in with the chilled calamondin-buttermilk clarification from Step 1 to make the final calamondin citrus brine. Right before slicing and plating, you’ll quickly dip your whole scallops in this brine. The brine is also poured into the serving bowl/dish and should be eaten (with a spoon) alongside each bite of scallop.   

Supplies/tools needed:

• citrus juicer
• blender
• strainer

Ingredients:

• juice of 4 ripe calamondin citrus (about 1/4 cups juice) – skins can be saved and used to make bitters or other recipes
• add small bit of diced jalapeño (or leave this ingredient out if you don’t like hot peppers)
• small bit of fresh, micro-planed ginger
• generous pinch of salt 

Instructions: 

1. Add calamondin juice, diced jalapeño, ginger, and salt to blender and blend for 30 seconds. Strain through sieve. 
2. Mix with calamondin-buttermilk clarification made in Step 1. 
3. Refrigerate. 

Step 4: Assemble 

Now comes the fun part! Putting it all together. 

Supplies/tools needed:

• small bowls or deep plates
• kitchen tweezers (if you want to get fancy)
• small pouring vessel for the brine
• basting brush

Ingredients:

In addition to the a. calamondin-brine and b. jalapeño-cilantro oil you’ve already made plus your c. fresh scallops, you’ll need a few other ingredients:

• 3 pearl onions or 1 shallot 
• 1 tsp fish sauce or Yondu aka vegetarian fish sauce (David uses Yondu, I used fish sauce since it’s what I had) 
• 1 tsp soy sauce or White Nama Shoyu aka soyless soy sauce (David used White Nama Shoyu, I used soy sauce since it’s what I had)
• thin slices of jalapeño (optional if you like heat)
• fresh seasonal garnishes
• large flake sea salt

Instructions: 

1. Combine fish sauce (or Yondu) + soy sauce (or White Nama Shoyu) in small bowl. 

2. Now you have a decision to make… You’ll want to “cook” your scallops in the acidic brine (Reminder: brine = combination of calamondin-buttermilk clarification + calamondin-hot pepper-ginger juice). Exactly how you do this is a matter of personal preference. 

Here’s what David did:

• Baste the WHOLE scallops with brine.
• Cut each scallop into ~4-5 thin slices and plate them.
• Baste slices with mix of Yondu and White Nama Shoyu.
• Garnish with ice water pearl onions, calamondin bits, jalapeno slices, nasturtium, flowers.
• Pour brine over the sliced scallops.  
• Add large flake salt to each piece. 

When making this dish at home, I wanted to make sure my fish sauce-soy sauce combination stayed fully on the scallops. And I was curious what difference it would make to soak the scallops in the brine, sliced or unsliced, for various time periods. So The Tyrant and I sampled four combinations:

a. Whole scallop soaked in citrus brine 30 seconds; 
b. Whole scallop soaked in citrus brine for 5 minutes;
c. Sliced scallop soaked in citrus brine 30 seconds;
d. Sliced scallop soaked in citrus brine for 5 minutes.

Our personal preference was the sliced scallops soaked in citrus brine for 30 seconds (longer toughened the texture too much). Then the sliced scallops were plated and basted with the fish sauce-soy sauce combination. Rather than pouring the brine over the scallops, it went straight on to the dish around them. Then the whole thing was garnished and salted.  

Yes, this is arguably ridiculous minutiae. No matter which option you choose, it’s going to taste good. 

3. Oh, and remember the calamonding-feta cheese and cilantro-pepper paste? Stick those on some crackers as a side and you’ve got a whole meal! 

Recipe: Calamondin citrus-scallop aguachile 

We hope this Chef’s Choice series recipe by Chef David Porras helped educate and inspire your inner home chef. Let us know what you think after you’ve enjoyed a meal of calamondin-scallop aguachile! 

-Chef David and Tyrant Farms