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PAIRING: A gewürztraminer, such as Paul Kubler ”K” 2007, Alsace, France, or a viognier.

shrimp with tangerine powder and smoked chile aioli

For the tangerine powder:

4 tangerines

1 tablespoon sugar

For the smoked chile aioli:

1 egg yolk

¼ teaspoon chipotle powder21

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

⅛ teaspoon salt

½ cup pure olive oil or neutral

vegetable oil (don’t use

extra-virgin olive oil, as it

can make the sauce bitter)

Freshly ground pepper

For the marinade:

Reserved tangerine flesh from

the peeled tangerines

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive

oil

¼ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon chipotle powder

For the shrimp:

1 pound sidestripe or spot

prawns, peeled (leaving

shells on tails) and deveined22

1 tablespoon high-heat

vegetable oil

There are two components of this recipe that put it into the “challenging” category: the tangerine powder and the aioli. However, neither is terribly difficult if you carefully follow the directions. A from-scratch aioli (essentially a garlic-laced mayonnaise) flavored with smoked chile powder is a wonderful ingredient to have in your bag. The tangerine powder (essentially the dehydrated ground peels of several tangerines) is a little bit of orange pixie dust that has numerous uses, besides being an unusual and surprising flavor for shrimp: try it sprinkled on a plum tart, in a steaming mug of milk-laced Earl Grey tea, or folded into shortbread or scone dough.

SERVES 4 AS AN APPETIZER

Preheat the oven to 275ºF.

To prepare the powder, peel the tangerines, reserving the flesh to use in the marinade. Remove any of the bitter white pith from the peels. Place the peels on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, watching carefully to make sure they don’t brown. Check them often and flip them over a few times; you want them to crisp up and dry out without burning them. Once the peels are crisp, let them cool and then grind them with the sugar in a spice grinder to a fine powder. Set aside in a small bowl.

To prepare the aioli, in the small bowl of a food processor, add the egg yolk, chipotle powder, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the food processor while the machine is running. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can make the aioli by hand in a medium bowl, whisking the yolk mixture constantly as you slowly drip the olive oil into the bowl.) Season to taste with pepper, adding extra lemon juice and salt if necessary. Transfer the aioli to a small bowl.

To prepare the marinade, squeeze the tangerine flesh until you have ½ cup juice. Strain to remove any seeds or pith. Add the juice to a small saucepan and reduce over high heat until you have about 2 tablespoons. Set aside to cool. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, salt, chipotle powder, and tangerine reduction.

To prepare the shrimp, soak them in the marinade for 20 minutes.

Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add the vegetable oil. When the pan and oil are really hot, pan-fry the shrimp for about 1 minute on each side, or until they are browned.

Serve the shrimp in a large bowl. Instruct your guests to dip the shrimp into the aioli and then sprinkle with tangerine powder.

PAIRING: A white Bordeaux, such as Château de Fongrave Blanc 2008, or a New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

scallops

If cooking seafood perfectly is the measure of a cook’s skill, the scallop is a good measuring stick. Of all the things I’ve taught as a cooking instructor, it is the craft of perfectly searing a scallop that has most enthralled my students. No other seafood quite achieves its delicious duplicity: crispy, caramelized, sweet exterior meets creamy, silky, oceany interior.

In the male-dominated world of restaurant kitchens that I inhabited before venturing out on my own, I often found myself being measured up as I lowered scallops down into a smoking hot pan. Did I wince or cry out as hot drops of fat met the delicate skin of my forearm? Did I place the scallops