Mango Ginger Scallop Salad

One of the highlights of summer for me is taking a ride down to the Connecticut shoreline for Lobster Rolls at Abbotts Lobster in the Rough. It's a quaint, casual restaurant serving all kinds of seafood delights with nothing fried...gobs of melted butter, but nothing fried. We took a ride down there this weekend and enjoyed spicy shrimp corn chowder, crab cakes with some kind of special sauce and the best tasting Lobster Rolls-period.

The weekend put me in a seafood mood so when I went to the supermarket yesterday I was immediately lured over to the seafood case where I selected a pound of plump, white scallops. As I was wheeling my cart away I clumsily dropped my purse on the floor, when I leaned over to pick it up something interesting caught my eye: Callison's Seasoned Skewers. They were tucked on some crazy little shelf at the end of a meat case at about the eye level of a crawling infant.

(Note to supermarket staff: if you want to sell your seasoned skewers how about putting them where someone old enough to operate a grill can see them?).

I crawled over and tossed a package of ginger-mango up into my cart.

I first became familiar with the skewers from Lisa at Jersey Girl Cooks who not long ago whipped up some tasty chicken and zucchini skewers and I've been looking for them ever since...Lisa didn't tell me I would have to crawl around my supermarket to find them.

I anxiously skewered my scallops and allowed them to "season" on the skewer as directed for 15 minutes. Sadly when I lit the grill I realized we were out of gas but my cast iron grill pan made an exceptional fill in. The skewers were fabulous. They imparted a subtle mango-ginger flavor to the scallops which was just right. They served as the centerpiece for a Mango Ginger Scallop Salad with a Mango Cilantro dressing. You can substitute regular skewers if you can't find the seasoned ones...hopefully your supermarket will have them on a high shelf.

Mango Ginger Scallop Salad

1 pound scallops, patted dry and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper

cooking spray

seasoned skewers

6 cups shredded Romaine lettuce

1 large mango peeled and thinly sliced

1 avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

Dressing:

1/4 cup diced mango

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Thread the scallops onto skewers and let season for 15 minutes.

Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium high heat. Lightly spray grill rack or pan with cooking spray. Grill scallops for 4 minutes then turn over and grill an additional 4-5 minutes.

Divide lettuce between salad plates and fan mango and avocado over. Place a scallop skewer on each salad. Drizzle with the dressing.

To prepare the dressing: in a small food processor combine the mango, lime juice, olive oil, shallot, cilantro, salt and pepper; process until smooth.

Go ahead poke your fork in

The Clean Plate Club