Ceviche adapted from Stephan Pyles

It's getting warm here in TX now, and we now want chilled, light, flavorful dishes. Especially those that go well with summer drinks - spritzers, margaritas and the like. Also we needed to take a dish to Madame's faculty party yesterday evening. In hunting through various recip books, I came across a scallop ceviche in a Stephan Pyles cookbook. We messed with it a bit, since we didn't want to overpower with heat. However, being cinco de mayo yesterday, we did want to make sure it had some tex-mex-ness.
Ingredients (Makes 50 little tostadas)
3/4 lb sea scallops (preferably dry) - cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
3T orange freshly squeezed orange juice
4 medium tomatillos - husk removed and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic - minced finely
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 serrano pepper - minced
6 green onions - white and light green finely chopped
2 avocados, peeled and sliced into 1/4" cubes
Cayenne seasoned salt - to taste
50 corn chip shells (we used "scoopers, white corn chips")
Method
Our method was a little unorthodox. We placed the scallops and 1/2 cup of the lime/orange juice juice into a chilled bowl and carried that mixture in the bowl in an insulated bag over an ice pack to the party. It was about a 45 minute drive. That's the perfect time for the scallops to "cook" in the citrus.
The other ingredients (except for the corn chips!) were combined, and the remaining lime added to make sure the avocado would not brown. This mixture was placed in a separate bowl, also inside the insulated bag.
On arrival at the party, drain the liquid from the scallops. Gently mix the scallops into the other ingredients. Spoon the scallop mixture into the chips and serve immediately. Add a little seasoned salt at this stage if desired.
These go extremely well with margaritas, by the way!

Seabirdskitchen visits Sustenio

Last weekend madame and I drove down to San Antonio to visit our good friend Chef David Gilbert (@beyondthekit on twitter) in his new adventure as the Executive Chef at Sustenio - the inspired restaurant at the Eilan resort in the North Western suburbs of San Antonio. And what a treat.

Even with all that magic, that wasn't the only high point! The resort and hotel are themselves fabulous. Great staff, wonderful place. But there's more. As many know, I am an avid baker. I was delighted when I was offered the chance to spend time with the brilliant bread maker Kelly Wiltshire in the pastry kitchen. The catch? Oh he starts at 4am. So at about 04:00 on the Saturday morning, I rocked up to the kitchen to find Kelly and get the training.

Intense. Fascinating to work with larger batches and the industrial sized Hobart mixers. Fresh yeast too.  So what did I learn (but come nowhere near mastering)?

• That I am too nice to my dough. 
• That shaping rolls has a rhythm and skill that I have yet to master, but am now on the way.
• That doughs are more forgiving than I realized
• The real importance of high gluten flours - and their ability to withstand jostling during transfer from making to baking
• That you can (should) double bake artisinal breads to get extra crust
• That it is even harder work than I expected!
• That there is equipment I can only dream about 

Now That's a mixer!

 I also got to watch a Ernest, a pastry chef do some incredibly detailed work - and best of all let me taste some of the results. How do pastry chefs stay thin? beats me!