Recipe: Pineapple aguachile with burnt salsa

Sunday is Cinco De Mayo, and chef Francisco Higareda from Monarca restaurant in Vancouver is cooking up pineapple aguachile with burnt salsa.

Serves four.

Ingredients:

• 20 pieces of cooked prawns (size 21/25)
• 4 pieces of scallops
• 150 millilitres of lime juice
• 150 grams of fried leeks (thinly sliced)
• 100 grams of cucumber, diced
• 150 grams of pineapple, diced
• 30 grams of red onion, sliced
• salt to taste
• 200 grams of tortilla chips

Burnt salsa ingredients:

• 3 tomatoes
• half an onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 jalapeño peppers
• one-quarter bunch of cilantro
• 20 millilitres of lime juice
• salt to taste

Procedure:

1. For the burnt salsa, cut all ingredients in half (except cilantro). Place tomatoes, onion, garlic and jalapeño peppers on a baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F (175 C) for 17 minutes. Once done, remove the vegetables from the tray and let them cool at room temperature. Blend all salsa ingredients for one minute at high speed. Add salt to taste.
2. For the aguachile, cure the prawns and scallops for 10 minutes in lime juice and a pinch of salt.
3. Add the diced cucumber, pineapple, red onion and eight tablespoons of the burnt salsa to the cured prawns and scallops. Season with salt to taste and let it rest for one more minute.
4. Serve the mixture in soup plates and garnish with fried leeks.
5. Serve tortilla chips on the side.
6. Enjoy your pineapple aguachile!