Raw scallops with green tomatoes and basil
SERVES 4
“In a funny way, this both looks and eats like a bright, oceanic Caprese salad,” says Mattos. “Is it better? That’s up to you, but I happen to think so. There’s an unidentifiable source of heat that comes along toward the end of a mouthful. It’s the magical liquid that results from the pickled chilli recipe.”
¾ cup (90gm) sea salt flakes 6 large scallops
Grey salt (see note)
⅛ tsp yuzu kosho (nee note) 2 tsp Arbequina olive oil (see note)
¼ tsp mandarin extra-virgin olive oil (see note)
Basil buds (if you can find them) or basil leaves 1 lemon, for zesting
2 firm green tomatoes, very thinly sliced into rounds Chardonnay vinegar (optional)
PICKLED THAI CHILLIES
115 gm Thai scud chillies
(see note)
600 ml white vinegar
50 gm sugar
1 For pickled chillies, rinse chillies and put them in a heatproof container. Combine vinegar and sugar in a saucepan with 540ml water and ½ tsp sea salt flakes, and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Pour liquid over chillies and leave to cool, then refrigerate. Pickled chillies can be refrigerated for up to 3 months.
2 Add sea salt flakes to 1 litre water in a small non-reactive container (see cook’s notes p152), stirring to dissolve salt. Add scallops and refrigerate for 20 minutes to brine.
3 Drain scallops and pat dry with paper towels. Put them on a plate lined with paper towel and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
4 Lay scallops on a flat side and thinly slice about 6mm-thick in one smooth movement starting at the heel of a very sharp knife. You should get
5 or 6 slices per scallop.
5 Arrange scallop slices on a large plate or baking tray and sprinkle lightly with grey salt. Smear a tiny amount of yuzu kosho onto each slice.
6 To serve, drizzle a little of the Thai chilli pickling liquid, olive oil and mandarin olive oil over serving plates. Arrange scallop slices on top in a circular shape, overlapping. If you have them, break up basil buds and scatter over each serving, or tear basil leaves into tiny pieces and scatter over scallops. Grate
4 or 5 rasps of lemon zest over and finish with tomato slices, overlapping them to cover scallops completely. If the tomatoes aren’t very acidic, dress them with a little vinegar to serve.
Note Grey salt, also known as sel gris or Celtic sea salt, is available from select healthfood shops. Yuzu kosho is a bold, aromatic paste made by fermenting chillies with salt and the juice and zest of yuzu. It’s available from Asian supermarkets. Arbequina olive oil is from Spain and has a fruity flavour; find your local stockist at nomadistribution.com.au. To find a distributor of Alto mandarin extra-virgin olive oil visit alto-olives.com.au.
Scud chillies are available from Thai grocers.