 Meal/Course - Appetizer/Hors d'oeuvre
A Recipe From:Mexican Modern New Food From Mexico
by Fiona Dunlop
Photographs by Jean-Blaise Hall 
These are quick and easy to prepare and can be made with roasted and peeled jalapeños or fresh out of the garden. Serve these chilled as an appetizer or even as a luncheon entree on a hot day.
This basic shellfish brine comes from Mike Stines' article "Smoking Succulent Shellfish". Read more how-to and recipes for smoked mussels, clams, scallops, and oysters here. Picus Coctelería is named for its fresh seafood ceviches and cocktails. Yolanda’s seafood comes directly from the sea; for the best flavor and texture use the freshest you can find. Although this recipe is for shrimp ceviche, it can be made with any combination of shrimp, octopus, squid, conch, abalone, white fish or oysters.
Pili-Pili is the generic name for African chiles as well as the name of this shrimp dish from Mozambique. Shellfish is abundant off the coast, and the prawns are so large that a couple will make a meal. The marinade not only goes well with shrimp or prawns, but also with fish and chicken. Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.
"The first food I prepared with a salt block was a Sichuan citrus scallop and shrimp appetizer (this could also be an entrée if you increase the number of shrimp and scallops per serving). Following the manufacturer’s recommendations I placed the dry, room temperature salt block on an unheated grill and turned the grill on to its lowest temperature allowing the salt block to warm gently (this also removes any moisture that might be on the block). Then I slowly increased the grill’s temperature until the salt block reached the desired temperature… for me the process took about 45 minutes until the block reached 550 degrees F. The key is to slowly increase the temperature otherwise the block may shatter." Read the entire article on salt block cooking by Mike Stines here.
Spinach never tasted so good or so hot! This is a very versatile filling that can be used as a dip with chips or a sandwich spread on a hearty bread such as a dark rye. It’s important to tightly roll and refrigerate the rolls or they won’t stay rolled up after they are sliced.
This recipe is part of a five-part series devoted to chipotles--those many varieties of smoked chiles. You can go here to start reading--and cooking with--chipotles of all kinds. 
My preference is to shuck the clams before smoking so they absorb more of the smoke flavor, but whole clams can be smoked until the shells open, about ten minutes. Fishmongers use different names for clams based on their size. The smallest harvestable clam is a littleneck (about one inch in diameter), then middleneck, followed by topneck. Larger clams are cherrystones (three to four per pound) and chowder clams. One pound of topneck clams contains about five to seven clams. From Mike Stines' article "How to Smoke Succulent Shellfish" here. |
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