Preparation: 25 minutes Cooking: 5 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4):
12 medium – large Hand Dived Scallops
2 Free range egg yolks
25g Rocket
25g Parsley
25g Parmesan
5g Dijon mustard
20ml White wine vinegar
300ml Rapeseed oil (plus a little for cooking)
Hand dived scallops are something very special. Not only are they a more sustainable product than their more widely used dredged cousins, but they have a better flavour and texture. Dredging scallops can have long term damaging effects on the ocean bed, and the scallops themselves can get damaged and stressed, resulting in gritty scallops which lack flavour.
At our restaurants, the scallops come in still snapping and pulsing, and are prepped and on the plate by dinner. The freshness, as well as the way they have been handled, guarantees a stunning dish when cooked well and combined with something very simple. We serve them with a herb mayonnaise made from parsley and rocket, but some fresh lemon juice and parsley works just as well.
Ask your fish monger to prepare the scallops for you and keep them refrigerated until needed. For the mayonnaise, place all of the ingredients, except the oil, in to a food processor. Blitz the ingredients until you have a smooth green paste. Gradually add the oil until the mixture thickens and forms the mayonnaise. You can keep this refrigerated for up to 3 days.
To cook the scallops, heat a wide, non-stick, heavy based pan until almost smoking – turn the heat down, add a little rapeseed oil and carefully place the scallops in the pan. By the time you have placed the last scallop in the pan, the first one will be ready to turn. Quickly season all the scallops with some salt and turn them in the same order. Cook for a further 2 minutes then remove the scallops from the pan.
Serve the scallops alongside the mayonnaise and perhaps with some lightly toasted bread. At The Seafood & Grill we serve them with Bacon and Onion bread that has been lightly charred. Delicious!
mayonnaise, scallops
