Scallops & Charred Corn Appetiser
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Time and Servings
Serves:4
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
Bacon Shards
6 pieces of streaky bacon
Bacon Crumb
100g streaky bacon
⅓ cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp thyme leaves
Parsley Oil
1.5 cups fresh parsley
½ cup olive oil
Corn Puree
20g butter
250g frozen corn
70ml cream
50ml chicken stock
½ tsp salt
Charred Corn
1 corn on the cob
Scallops
12 large scallops
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic
6 sprigs thyme
½ lemon
To garnish:
Microherbs
Method
Bacon Shards
Preheat the oven to 165C.
Get two baking tray, one of which must be able to sit on top of the other.
Line the bottom tray with baking paper. Lie the bacon rashers flat on top of the paper. Then place another piece of baking paper on top. Place the other tray on top, ensuring it sits on all of the bacon pieces - this will help to keep the bacon pieces flat.
Place in the oven, and allow to cook slowly until the bacon pieces are crispy, about 30-40 minutes.
Once crispy, remove from the oven and allow them to drain on paper towel.
Bacon Crumb
Chop up the bacon well so it is in smaller pieces.
Heat a pan over a medium heat on the stovetop. Add the bacon and allow to saute slowly.
Once the bacon fat has rendered and it is nice and crispy, add the panko breadcrumbs, sugar and thyme. Saute until the crumbs are golden.
Once golden, tip the mixture onto paper towel to absorb the excess fat. Put aside.
Parsley Oil
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and have an ice bath ready.
Once the water is boiling, add the parsley. Stir and allow to boil for 15 seconds. Remove the parsley from the hot water and submerge it straight into the ice water. Stir through, and allow to sit in the water until completely cooled, about 5 minutes.
Once the parsley is cold, remove from the ice water and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Put the parsley in a blender with the olive oil. Blend on a high speed until it looks puree-like. If it is struggling to blend, add another dash of olive oil.
Place a cheesecloth or clean dishcloth in a sieve over a bowl, tip in the mixture and allow it to drain slowly. Place in the fridge while it drains, stirring occasionally (but do not press). Leave for a few hours. Once it has drained, discard the parsley and pour the green oil into a bottle for plating.
Corn Puree
Put the butter into a small pot on the stove over a medium heat.
Once melted, add the corn. Stirring until defrosted.
Add the cream, stock and salt. Bring to a simmer, allow to bubble gently for 10 minutes.
Put into a small high speed blender, and blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve to get any lumps out. If it seems a bit runny, put into a pot and cook slowly, stirring often, until thickened.
Season again with salt to taste if necessary. Keep warm until plating, them put it into a squeeze bottle.
Charred Corn
Heat a pan or flat griddle pan on the stovetop on a high heat. Once smoking. Place the corn cob in the pan. Allow it to char, then turn. Continue to do so until it has a good char all over.
Put aside to cool, then carefully slice the corn off the cob, trying to keen some kernels joined.
Scallops
Pat the scallops dry with paper towel. Season the flour with a pinch of salt and pepper. Dip one flat side of each scallop in the flour.
Heat a flat skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil.
Once hot, add the scallops floured-side down. Allow to cook without moving them for about 2 minutes, until beautifully golden. Turn the scallops over and add the butter, garlic and thyme to the pan. Swirl the pan around until the butter melts and bubbles. Allow to cook for another minute or two, squeeze the lemon over the scallops, do one last swirl of the butter, then remove them from the pan.
Plating
Place three fairly big dots of puree in a curved line along the side of the plate. Do a few more dots, making them smaller as you go, following the curved line. Place a scallop on top of each larger dot of puree. Lean a few bacon shards against the scallops. Spoon some of the bacon crumb and charred corn pieces on and around the scallops. Drizzle a few dots of parsley oil around the plate, and garnish with fresh microherbs.
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