Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 5 hr

Makes 48 hors d’oeuvres.

INGREDIENTS

  • for ceviche
  • 1/2cup thinly sliced white onion
  • 1cup fresh orange juice
  • 1cup fresh lime juice
  • 1fresh jalapeño chile, sliced, including seeds
  • 2tablespoons kosher salt
  • 24medium sea scallops (1 1/4 lb), tough muscles removed from sides if necessary and scallops halved horizontally
    for pasta cakes
  • 6oz black (squid ink) angel’s hair pasta
  • 1teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • about 1 cup oliveor vegetable oilfor cilantro salsa
  • 1/2cup minced white onion
  • 1/2cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/2cup finely chopped fresh tomatillos
  • 1/2cup finely chopped tomato
  • 1tablespoon minced fresh jalapeño chile, including seeds
  • 1teaspoon kosher salt

    DIRECTIONS

    Make ceviche: Combine onion, juices, jalapeño,and salt in a bowl.


    Poach scallops in 4 quarts of simmering salted water, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through (scallops should be opaque with centers slightly pink), about1 minute. Drain scallops and gently toss with marinade. Marinate scallops, covered and chilled, 3 hours.


    Make pasta cakes: Boil pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander. Rinse briefly under cold running water to stop cooking (don’t cool pasta completely) and drain well. Tosspasta with extra-virgin olive oil.

    Heat 1/4 inch olive or vegetableoil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Form cakes by dropping a few strands of loosely squiggled pasta into a 1-tablespoon measure to fill it and inverting tablespoon into oil, flattening cake slightly if necessary.(If strands in bowl become too sticky to handle, stir in a little reserved pasta water, 1 teaspoon at a time. Youneed some starch from pasta to hold cake together, but you don’t want strands to become wet.) Cook cakes,4 at a time, until crisp, 45 seconds to1 minute per side, and drain on paper towels. Season cakes with salt.


    Make salsa: Soak onion in cold water to cover20 minutes, then drain and rinse well. Stir together onion, cilantro, tomatillos, tomato, jalapeño, and saltand chill, covered, until ready to use.


    Assemble hors d’oeuvres: Lift scallops out of marinade and put1 on top of each pasta cake. Top with salsa and serve immediately.


    Cooks’ notes:
    • Pasta cakes may be made 1 day ahead and kept between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container at room temperature.


    • Ceviche can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.


    • Salsa is best when made no more than2 hours before serving.