Mardi Gras in Your Mouth

Joelen's Culinary Adventures is having a blog event featuring New Orleans cuisine and chefs' recipes and I thought I would join in the fun. I brought home a copy of Every Day's A Party: Louisiana Recipes for Celebrating with Family and Friends, by Emeril Lagasse (NY: William Morrow, 1999) from the bookshop for inspiration. I saw a great recipe for a Shrimp and Corn Salad that featured lots of fresh garden produce, but I didn't have any shrimp in the freezer and the nearest bayou was too far away, so I rustled around and came up with some frozen bay scallops that I thawed for this delicious dinner salad adaptation of Emeril's recipe.

I got a lot of choruses of "Bam!" from my husband during the cooking process, but he was spectacularly quiet while chowing down this vibrantly-flavored dish. It's a veritable Mardi Gras of colors and tastes and perfect for this time of year when the farm stands and backyard gardens are full of the freshest vegetables and herbs.

Scallop and Corn Salad

4 cups water
1 lb. bay scallops, fresh or thawed
1 tsp. salt
1/2 lemon, juiced and rind reserved

Corn kernels cut from 2 ears of fresh cooked corn (or 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed)

1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove minced garlic (or 1 Tbsp. onion powder)
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 tomato, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced

Bring water to boil. Add salt, lemon rind and scallops and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer until scallops are just cooked, about 4-5 minutes.

Drain scallops and cool.

Mix dressing from olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, hot sauce, basil and garlic (or onion powder). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss peppers, tomatoes and corn with dressing. Add scallops and mix well.

Cover and chill at least 1-2 hours before serving.

This is a dish we will make again and again, maybe with shrimp next time, and look forward to sharing it with friends later this month.

Joelen's New Orleans blog event runs until midnight tonight (I'm just under the wire!), so be sure to check out in a few days for a tasty roundup.