Versatile Flavours and Sea Scallops

THIS month’s cooking column will show you how to make two delicious srecipes: spicy and creamy scallops.

SPICY SCALLOPS

The flavours used in this recipe are ‘spicy’, but the amount of spice used is small enough not to drown the beautiful flavours of the sea scallops.

Ingredients

• 250g sea scallops
• 1 tablespoon Bertolli olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Kikkoman soy sauce
• small dash sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander, leaves only
• 1/2 cup white wine

Preparation

• Wash the scallops gently and pat dry with some paper towel.

• In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, red curry paste and coriander into a marinade, then add the scallops and toss to coat.

• When you are ready to cook, drain the scallops, reserving the marinade. In a small saucepan, add the marinade and the white wine. Heat the marinade mixture to a gentle simmer and place to one side.

• Next heat a little olive oil in a heavy based frypan over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the scallops a few at a time so that the temperature of the pan remains fairly high. The aim is to sear the scallops. When all the scallops have been added to the pan, cook for about a minute. Remove the pan with the scallops from the heat.

• To serve, pour a little of the warm marinade/wine mixture over the scallops and place them on a serving dish to allow everybody to help themselves. To go with this dish, I would like to suggest a Montana Lindauer sparkling wine that tastes as special as these scallops.

CREAMY SCALLOPS

A very simple and absolutely delicious recipe. The scallops are pan seared with a little garlic and nestled on a bed of mash.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon Bertolli olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, left whole
• 250g scallops

Preparation

• Heat the butter, olive oil and garlic clove in a heavy based frypan over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, remove the garlic. The idea behind this is to simply infuse the oil in the pan with a gentle flavour of garlic. Add the scallops to the pan and cook for a minute each side. Remove the pan from the heat.

Potato Mash

Adding a clove of garlic to the potatoes as they cook gives the completed mash a great flavour. The garlic softens as it cooks and is mashed with the potatoes.

Ingredients

• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
• 1 clove garlic
• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• quantity of cream

Preparation

• Cook the potatoes and the garlic clove in plenty of boiling water until the potatoes are tender. Drain the potatoes and the garlic. Mash the potatoes with the butter and stir in the chopped shallots. Add just enough cream to the potatoes to make a smooth and creamy mash.

• Place a generous serving of the creamy mash on individual serving plates. Top with some scallops, and drizzle the pan juices from the scallops over the top. Serve with a chilled glass or two of Montana Lindauer - a bubbly wine that marries well with the delicate flavour of the scallops.

The scallops in these recipes were supplied by Fish Factory, Colmslie, Ph. (07) 3399 9888.