Seafood from Barra is the key to a great dish
Here, Chris turns to Scottish produce from Barra for his second recipe. He writes... These large scallops, pan seared lightly on both sides work great together with cauliflower puree, red pepper coulis and oriental spiced pork bon bons, a squeeze of lemon and dehydrated coral which has a slight flavour of brine and adds a subtle savoury taste to the sweet white meat of the scallop’s.
This dish would be the perfect start to a wonderful dinner party, especially accompanied with a chilled glass of Chenin Blanc.
For the scallops – 12 large hand dived scallops; one tbs olive oil; 15g salted butter.
For cauliflower puree: One head of cauliflower, cut into florets, milk to cover; 3oz of butter; two cloves; two bay leaves; salt and cracked black pepper.
For the pork bon bons: One bottle of cider and one pint of chicken stock; 6 oz of Scottish pork cheek; 200g pin head oatmeal; sprinkle of Chinese five spice; two tbs Hoi Sin Sauce; salt and cracked pepper.
For the pimento coulis: Two roasted seeded red pepper; one diced white onion; 100g chopped tomatoes; 50ml white wine vinegar; 25g soft dark brown sugar; salt and cracked black pepper.
For dehydrated roe: 12 roe off the hand dived scallops; salt and cracked black pepper. Pre- heat oven to 200c/ 400f/ gas 6 For the roe: Detach the roe from the scallops and place on a tray, and oven bake for one hour roughly, till dried out. Chill and place in a food processor and blend into a fine roe dust.
For the pork bonbon: Place pork cheek in small sauce pan, fill with cider and chicken stock, bring to boil and simmer for one hour thirty mins till pork tender for pulling. Take pork out and place in a food processor and pulse blitz gently adding five spice, hoi sin sauce and seasoning to bind the mixture together. Roll into small bon bons, tray and chill. Finally Paneed the bon bons in pin head oatmeal anddeep fry for two mins prior to serve.
For the cauliflower puree: Place the florets into a small sauce pan and cover in milk, add the cloves, bay leaves and butter. Boil till cauliflower soft. Place the cauliflower in a colander and drain till completely dry. Place in a food processor and blend till smooth add the milk mixture to loosen if required.
For the coulis: Heat a small saucepan with tbsp. of olive oil, sweat the onions and red peppers for few minutes, add the chopped tomatoes, vinegar and brown sugar and cook for a further few minutes, Season well, use hand blender to puree and pass through a fine sieve.
For the scallops: Heat nonstick pan, make sure your pan is very warm to get a good colour, add small drizzle of oil. Place the scallops into pan and sear on both sides of scallops for a few minutes and finish with a knob of butter to give richness and beautiful glaze on the white meat.
To serve: Place the cauliflower puree into three quenelles using two dessert spoons. Add two small pools of pimento coulis onto the plate for the bon bons to sit on. Place the griddled scallops half on the cauliflower puree quenelles. Wedges of lemon and sprinkle the dish with the dehydrated roe and finish with some micro herbs too garnish the dish. I personally would recommend garlic, chives, red vein sorrel and red amaranth then finish with balsamic glaze to dress the plate.