Mexico has a great variety of food styles based on its many regions. I am always excited to try something new whenever I travel outside the US. On one of my visits to Los Cabos, I had the pleasure of eating at Casa Don Rodrigo where I had their version of a Seafood Molcajete. It was fantastic. Check here for my blog post on Don Rodrigo and my visit to Cabo!

One of the items that caught my eye at Casa Don Rodrigo was their Seafood Molcajete which was a variety of seafood served in a blazing hot molcajete. In case you are not familiar, a molcajete is a granite mortar and pestle. Sometimes in our local Mexican restaurants, you may find Guacamole prepared and served tableside in a molcajete. You also might find Queso Fundido served in a molcajete. My recipe includes the best of Queso Fundido and Grilled Seafood!

**Seafood Molcajete at Casa Don Rodrigo**

Since the molcajete is heated to a very high temperature for this dish, the presentation is impressive with all the seafood and bubbly cheese. I liked it so much, I just had to put together my own recipe!

As always, thanks for Spending Time in My Kitchen!

Seafood Molcajete

Recipe by David Frank – Spending Time In My Kitchen

4.5 from 10 votes

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

hour

Grilled seafood presented in a Molcajete

Ingredients

8 Lg Shrimp
1 Lg Octopus arm
10 Scalllops
2 cups Shredded Oaxaca cheese
1/4 cup Cotija cheese
3 cups Tomatillo salsa
Tomatillo Salsa
10 small Tomatillos
1 White onion
2 Poblano chiles, fresh
2 Garlic cloves
2 Guajillo dry chile pods
2 cups Water
Dry Rub for Seafood
2 Tbl Paprika
1 Tbl Cayenne
1 tsp White pepper
1 Tbl Chili powder
2 tsp Salt
Garnish
1 Jalapeno
2 Green onions

Directions

Cut up tomatillos, onion into quarters and place on baking sheet. Drizzle a little olive oil on top and sprinkle some salt on the veggies. Add poblanos to the sheet.
Roast at 350° for 20 minutes
1/2 way through turn flip over the poblanos
When done, pull veggies out of the oven and set them aside.
Turn the heat in the oven up to 500°; Turn the molcajete upside down and place it in the oven on a tray. You want the molcajete blazing hot, so keep in over 30 minutes or more.
Take poblanos and blister them over your burner on your stove.
When you have blistered both chiles, put them in a plastic supermarket bag or ziplock and let them steam in the bag for a good 10 minutes.
Peel the skin off the chiles and set them aside. You can cut the tops off the poblano and remove the seeds.
Tomatillo Salsa
Take the two guajillo chiles, cut off the top and shake out all the seeds. Put the chiles in a saucepan half-filled with water.
Simmer until chiles soften; approximately 10 minutes.
Place garlic, onions, poblanos, tomatillos, and guajillo in a blender and blend until you get the consistency you prefer. Add salt and pepper to taste.
For many, the salsa in Step 3 is good to go. I took mine one step more; I poured my salsa into a saucepan and simmered for about 20 minutes. I added some water to the salsa as it simmered so that I could keep my desired consistency. Adjust your salt and pepper to taste. If your salsa is a little bitter, add a little sugar.
Grill the Seafood
Make sure your seafood is all dry so that you can get some good grill marks. First, put seafood in a large bowl, drizzle some olive oil all over, and add enough rub to cover. Give the seafood a good toss. I then put all my seafood on a grill pan. Remember, seafood cooks at different times, so watch those shrimps and scallops so they don’t get tough…they will cook fast!
After shrimp and scallops were done, the octopus still needed more time so I took them off the tray and put them directly on the grill. The octopus will also cook fast, so be aware!
You should have some good-looking seafood now! Let’s assemble!
Assemble the Molcajete
Be careful when you remove the molcajete from the oven. It will be HOT!! Use grill gloves. Place hot molcajete on a heat-resistant pad.
Add 3/4 of your Oaxaca cheese.
Add salsa halfway up molcajete.
Add some Cotija cheese and stir.
Cut up the octopus leg into 1-inch chunks.
Place seafood all around the inside of the molcajete.
Top off with remaining cheese and grilled green onions and maybe a nice big grilled jalapeno!
Enjoy!