Chorizo, Potato and Seared Scallop Tacos

This month's Charcutepalooza challenge was chorizo. I've made chorizo before, so I wasn't too inspired by the challenge and I kind of waited until the last minute to finish it. But I recently bought a new meat grinder, and I've been taking a creativeLive food photography course taught by Penny De Los Santos. So at the last minute, I decided to embrace the challenge.

Yesterday I picked up some pork butt from John Bledsoe at the Saturday Davis Farmers Market. I like Bruce Aidells' chorizo recipe in his Complete Sausage Book, but I modify it slightly by cutting the pork into chunks and coating them with the dry spices in his recipe, then let them sit overnight in the fridge. I ground the sausage today, then mixed in the cilantro and the jalapeno.

Rick Bayless  has a recipe for Chorizo with Potatoes and Scallops on his website. So I made this as a soft taco filling along with a avocado tomatillo salsa. My wife and daughter made some corn tortillas and we did a ring around the kitchen island...grab a tortilla, top it with some, potato mixture, add some sliced romaine, top it with salsa, eat and repeat. Another successful charcutepalooza project.