Scampi in Chilled Tomato-Orange Sauce Recipe from GourmetFoodPlaza.com

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Scampi in Chilled Tomato-Orange Sauce Recipe.....you'll find more recipes like this in our Recipe pages

Scampi in Chilled Tomato-Orange Sauce
Langoustine tails are served in a tomato-orange broth infused with mint. A simple but unusual preparation creates a light dish with subtle flavors and beautiful colors. When cooking the mint, tomatoes and oranges in the olive oil, the idea is to only infuse the mint flavor into the oil and vegetables, not to cook them, thus keeping the colors bright. Chef Bartolotta says that scampi are really langoustines, but the word is often used to mean large shrimp. Indeed, large shrimp or rock lobster tails may be substituted in this recipe.
Serves 4
	*Tomato-Orange Sauce*
8	tomatoes, peeled and seeded
1	bunch mint
4	oranges, peeled and segmented
8	teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
-	salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

	Scampi
12	langoustines (substitute: large prawns)

	To Prepare the Sauce and Garnishes
-	Cut 16½-inch diamond shapes from the tomatoes for garnish.
-	Pull 4 mint sprigs and 8 mint leaves from the bunch of mint and set aside for garnish.
-	Peel the white skin from the orange segments.
-	Set aside 12 segments for garnish.

-	In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the olive oil and the remaining mint, tomato pieces and orange segments.
-	Season with salt and pepper to taste.
-	When warmed through, remove from heat and set the pan in an ice bath to stop cooking.
-	This will extract the flavor from the mint and blend it with the tomato and orange.
-	Remove the mint pieces from the cooled mixture and blend the remaining tomatoes and orange segments in a blender until smooth.
-	Strain through a fine-meshed sieve.
-	Divide the tomato-orange sauce among 4 large, shallow soup bowls.
-	Cover with plastic wrap and chill.

	To Prepare the Scampi
-	Remove the tail meat of the langoustines, and discard the shells and black strip.
-	(If using large shrimp, peel off shells, leaving tails attached, and remove the black strip.)
-	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and add the langoustine tails.
-	Bring back to a boil and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until just cooked through and firm.
-	(If using large shrimp, bring back to a boil and let cook only 30 seconds.)
-	Drain.

	To Serve
-	Cut the reserved 8 mint leaves in fine chiffonade.
-	In a small sauté pan over medium heat, warm the tomato diamonds, orange segments and mint chiffonade.
-	Take out the chilled soup bowls with sauce and unwrap.
-	Mound warmed mint, tomato and orange mixture in the center of each.
-	Arrange 3 langoustine tails around each mound.
-	Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil and garnish each with one of the reserved mint sprigs.

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