This delicious scallop recipe pairs up the shellfish with the sweet flavours of a pea puree and some smokey warmth from chorizo sausage. This is a very good looking plate that will be sure to impress dinner guests. The cooking is quite straight forward and you can serve more or less scallops for heartier appetites or as a starter. Quantities below are for two people.
About The Scallop
Scallops are one of the easiest shellfish to identify, You can often see them on our counter. The large fan-shaped shells with chunky ribs are familiar from all manner of seaside images.
They live on sandy parts of the sea bed where they filter their food from the water. Scallops are described as “free-living” shellfish which means unlike shellfish such as mussels they can swim short distances. They do this by clapping their shells together which allows them to “hop” and “jump” along the sea bed. The good news for shellfish eaters is they have developed a large adductor muscle to do this. This is the large white disk on your plate. The other part you will see is usually bright orange sometimes paler or white and is generally known as the coral (because of its colour).
Scallop Recipe Ingredients
6 prepared scallops from Walter Purkis & Sons
160g frozen peas or fresh – same weight when podded
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
50g chorizo sausage , cut into even sized chunks
Salt and black pepper
Rocket leaves, to garnish
Cooking Method For Scallops, Peas And Chorizo
Boil the peas according to the pack instructions then drain well. Add half the butter, blitz with a hand blender, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm and set aside.
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the chorizo and gently fry until crisp. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Put to one side and keep warm
Turn up the heat and add the remaining butter to the pan – it will turn an attractive pink with the paprika that has come from the sausage. Season the scallops well with salt and pepper, then add to the pan. Place the shellfish into the pan like a clock face. By the time you are back to the top go round again turning the scallops over. They only take around a minute to cook on each side (depending on how big they are).
Spoon the pea puree onto two plates, then arrange with the chorizo and scallops. Drizzle over the remaining oil from the pan and garnish with a few rocket leaves.
Looking for some more cooking inspo? We have some other scallop recipes here >>
This shellfish recipe and image credits are from Seafish. More recipes on the Love Seafood website.
