Southern Comfort (23 page)

To make the sauce, in a large saucepan, cook the satsuma juice with the sugar and vinegar over medium-high heat until reduced to a syrupy liquid. Stir in the butter and Aleppo pepper. Keep warm until the fish is cooked.

To cook the fish, season the snapper with salt and black pepper and lightly dust the skin side with Wondra flour to prevent it from sticking to the pan.

In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until it is smoking; decrease the heat to medium-high. Gently lay the fish, one at a time and skin-side down, in the pan; with a flat metal spatula, press the fish firmly until it lays flat.

Continue to cook the fish until the skin is crispy, about 1 minute. You can check the progress by gently lifting the side of the fish and checking the skin side. Once the skin is crispy, turn each fish over and cook just until the tip of a knife feels warm after you poke it though the center, about 1 more minute. Remove the fish from the pan.

To serve, put a pool of sauce in the center of each plate and place the fish on top.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat a large ovenproof sauté pan over high heat until it is smoking. Season the scallops with salt and pepper. Decrease the heat to medium-high, add 2 tablespoon of the olive oil, and place six of the scallops in the pan. Cook the scallops on one side until they are nicely caramelized, about 1 minute. Transfer the cooked scallops to a plate. Repeat this process with the remaining six scallops, removing the old oil and replacing it with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.

Once the second set of scallops is nicely caramelized on one side, flip them over and add the cooked scallops back to the pan, caramelized side up. Place the pan in the oven for 3 minutes to finish cooking. Transfer all the scallops to a plate.

Remove the old oil from the pan and replace it with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Return the pan to medium heat. Add the shallots and andouille to the pan and cook until the shallots are translucent and soft, about 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to incorporate all the caramelized bits from the bottom into the sauce.

Cook until the wine is reduced by half; add the butter to the pan. Once the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and stir in the fresh thyme leaves.

Serve the scallops warm with some of the sauce spooned over the top.

To make the sauce, whisk together the molasses, soy sauce, mustard, and vinegar in a small saucepan. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it’s reduced by half, about 5 minutes, skimming the scum completely off of the top of the sauce with a spoon. Let the sauce cool while you cook the fish.

To cook the fish, season each piece of tuna with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Pour the smoked pepper onto a plate and spread it out evenly. Gently press each tuna into the smoked pepper on all sides, forming a crust of pepper all over. Tap the tuna pieces lightly to remove any excess pepper.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil to the pan. Once the oil is almost smoking, sear the tuna on all sides for about 15 seconds each side. This should result in a nice crust, but keep the inside of the fish rare.

Transfer the fish to plates and let cool slightly, then drizzle with the sauce and serve.