Scallop Crudo with Passion fruit, Celery Leaves & Shiso Oil
In Italian cuisine, Crudo is a raw fish dish dressed with olive oil, sea salt, and citrus juice such as lemon juice and sometimes vinegar. I used passion fruit instead. Sue me. You don’t need to follow a recipe for crudo as it is very much ingredient-driven. You could simply serve thin slices of the fatty part of freshly caught raw swordfish with olive oil, lemon juice and rosemary and if the ingredients are top notch you’ll end up with something truly fantastic. Crudo is about finding the best ingredients available and letting their flavors shine. The combinations are endless.
Yeah sure, I took some liberty with the passion fruit juice but it’s not so wacky since its acidity level is similar to lemon and it brings a nice exotic perfume to the sweet scallops, it also plays well with the shiso oil. I realized that celery leaves have a special affinity for passion fruit. They bring out the best in each other but they need the back-up of the olive oil to really work. As always, fat acts as flavor transmitter. And the fleur de sel does what it does best. It brings out the goodness in everything it’s sprinkled on.
When making crudo you have to rely on your tastebuds to find the right balance of fat, acid, spice and salt and that’s why i didn’t include specific measures on this recipe. You’ll be able to figure it out on your own, otherwise call 1(800) Zen Chef for help. Chances are you won’t get an answer but that’s because there’s no better exercise for serious cooks than to take a few simple but fresh ingredients and improvise them into a dish bigger and better than the sum of its parts. Have fun and enjoy!
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Scallop Crudo with Passion fruit, Celery Leaves & Shiso Oil
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- Serves 4
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For the crudo:
- 8 diver scallops
- 1 or 2 passion fruit
- good olive oil
- Fleur de sel
- celery leaves
- microgreens (optional)
- shiso oil, see below
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For the shiso oil:
- 1/2 cup shiso leaves
- 1/4 cup spinach leaves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup grapeseed oil
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For the shiso oil:
- Blanch shiso and spinach for 30 seconds and transfer to ice bath. Squeeze out water and blend with salt and sugar while adding grapeseed oil in a steady stream. Blend for 2 minutes. Keeps in a fridge for 1 week.
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For the crudo:
- Slice the scallops in third or fourth, the long way.
- Extract the juice from the passion fruit and reserve a few seeds for garnish.
- Arrange the scallop slices on 4 plates. Keep cold.
- Drizzle olive oil and passion fruit over the scallops, garnish with celery leaves, microgreens and passion fruit seeds. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and drizzle with shiso oil. Serve immediately.
September 17th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
But wouldn’t it be cool if your number WAS 1-800-ZEN-CHEF. I think so.
P.S. Great inventive dish.
September 17th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
That looks very, very nice. I can almost taste the flavors.
September 18th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Very interesting flavour combo. It looks absolutely wonderful though. I’m guessing the passion fruit does extremely well with the scallops. Nice creativity, as always!
September 18th, 2009 at 11:48 am
This, my friend, is why they pay you the big bucks. (They DO pay you the big bucks, right??)
September 18th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
oh my word. Just perfect. LOVE passion fruit used in crudo. What great flavors, and one incredibly good looking plate
September 18th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
You’ve put several of my most favouritestest things together: Passion fruit, scallops, and SHISO. HEART TO THE MAX!! >.<
September 18th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Why doesn’t everyone have a raw scallop dish on their menu? So fresh, floral, buttery. Tuna tatare, your era is OVER.
September 19th, 2009 at 10:25 am
That colors of that dish are amazing!
September 19th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
J’allai faire ma maline et faire une réflexion sur les couleurs, mais pour une fois, je vais me donner une grande baffe et la fermer (ah bah tiens ça va nous faire des vacances). C’est trop beau
bravo Chef. [dis donc, tu changes mon lien dans ton blogroll? Je sais je sais chuis chiante 
]
September 19th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
yummy! I would love to try it!
September 19th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I love passionfruit too- so much that I’m going to be planting some soon. Nice idea to use them as the acid for the crudo; I made swordfish kebabs tonight and now I’m wishing I made this. It’s your fault.
September 20th, 2009 at 2:43 am
I love dishes as this but I am allergic to raw scallops but my husband would totally love this divine dish!!
Just beautiful!!!!
September 20th, 2009 at 7:30 am
This is the first time I hear about crudo and it sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing
September 20th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Beautiful! Great idea using passion fruit. I’ve never tried shiso leaves before though, wonder what it taste like.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:29 am
wow wow wow – absolutely stunning! and i would take liberty with passion fruit juice as well!
September 21st, 2009 at 1:54 am
Cant’ take my eyes off this dish !
Stunning combination and colours !
September 21st, 2009 at 9:23 am
Great idea! I haven’t tried passion fruit before…
Colors are almost as fun to look at as tasting would be
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:45 am
The addition of passion fruit to this dish makes it even more enticing.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
wow, the water coming from my mouth could make the Grand Canyon a wild white water stream…..
September 26th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I likes!
September 26th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
First time I heard of Shiso oil, but this recipe looks wonderful!I’d love to bring over our readers to your site if you wont mind, just add this little foodista widget to this post and it’s all set to go, Thanks!
November 26th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
How come I’ve never seen this post? It looks great!