FOOD: Scallops roasted with seaweed butter.

Serves 6

– 6 live scallops

For the seaweed butter

– 3 sheets good-quality nori – ¼ cup soft butter – 1 tbsp light soy sauce

To make the seaweed butter, soak the nori in cold water for 10 minutes to soften. Take the soaked nori in your hands and squeeze out any excess liquid. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the nori with the soft butter and soy sauce.

To prepare the scallops, insert a knife through the open shell and slice the flesh away from the lid. If there is any sand in the scallop, flush it out with ice-cold water.

Remove the lid and then, using your knife, release the flesh from the bottom of the shell. Remove the skirt and black digestive tract and you will be left with scallop meat and roe.

Place the scallop and roe back in the shell with a tablespoon of seaweed butter. Place the lid back on and repeat for the remaining scallops.

Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Line a roasting pan with scrunchedup aluminium foil or rock salt and balance the scallops on top. The scallops need to be secure so that as the butter melts the scallop doesn’t tip and the contents spill.

Roast the scallops in the preheated oven for six minutes, remove the lids and serve immediately with a wedge of lemon.

Wine pairing:

2012 Benanti Pietramarina carricante, Etna Bianco Superiore, Sicily ($110)

– Leanne Altmann, wine buyer, Supernormal and Meatsmith