“I wanted a really peppery scallop salad. I love scallops, I love warm salads,” said Francine’s owner/chef Brian Hill. “This salad has two different notes of heat in it. We sear the scallops with cracked black pepper. We only sear them on one side. Then we make a chili dressing with pomelo and endive, both of which are in season now. Pomelo is a relative of the grapefruit. It’s drier and a lot sweeter, not so bitter. A lot of people dislike grapefruit, especially in salads, but pomelo, is amazing. It’s almost cherry flavored and it’s great with savory foods and perfect with seafood. We finish it with a little bit of puffed rice. We make our own puffed rice, but you can buy it at a health food store, just toast it with a little bit of olive oil and garlic salt.”

This recipe serves two:

6 scallops

Whole pepper corns

1pomelo

1head of endive

1pomelo

1head of endive

Puffed rice

Blanched bean sprouts

Chili Vinaigrette:

1 tsp. Chili sauce

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lime

Juice of 1 orange

Remaining juice from pomelo

Garlic

Olive and Sesame oil

Ginger

Local scallops are very good this time of year. Searing the scallops on only one side is a new way to cook scallops. You have to be really patient. You’ll need a fairly new nonstick pan and get it medium hot on the fire. Take just a drop of olive oil and place it in the pan and I can’t stress enough how little oil you need to use.

“Crack your pepper corns,” said Brian. “We use a rolling pin, but a food processor will work, too. Coat one side of the scallop with the cracked pepper corns and place into the pan. Cook 1and half minutes and give the scallop a quarter turn cooking for another minute and a half. What you get is this beautiful crust on the scallop, but the scallop is barely cooked. You flip it over for just a couple of seconds and then put it on the plate."

Peel and section your pomelo. Remove sections with a knife. Peel and wash the endive leaves. Arrange two or three endive on a plate and add a few blanched bean sprouts. Place two or three pomelo sections on top. Spoon a little chili vinaigrette on. Place scallops on bed and spoon more sauce over. Sprinkle with puffed rice.