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| Photograph by Casey Lazonick, prop styling by Cynthia Blackett, food styling & recipe by myself. |
This is a wonderfully simple and seasonal recipe. It's both visually impressive and a real crowd-pleaser (who doesn't like garlic butter?!). Serve with bread to mop up the melted wild garlic butter.
For the Wild Garlic butter
Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes and softened to room temperature
1 large bunch of fresh wild garlic, washed and roughly chopped
zest of 1 lemon
Salt and black pepper to taste
1. Blitz the wild garlic in a small processor until finely chopped.
2. Add in the butter and blitz till combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the processor with a spatula and blitzing again, until it is all thoroughly mixed.
3. Add the lemon zest, season with salt and pepper and give it a final mix.
4. Lay out some clingfilm or baking parchment on the kitchen surface. Pop the butter in the middle and roll into a sausage shape. Twist the ends of the clingfilm securely.
TIP: This can be made in advance and frozen for about 1 month. You can slice it as and when you need it.
To assemble the Scallops
Scallops in half-shells
Wild garlic butter (as above)
Lemon wedges to serve
Sea salt
1. Season scallops with a little salt and pepper.
2. Heat a frying pan to a high heat with a little oil (I used rapeseed oil). Fry the scallops for about 1 minute on one side, then flip them over and cook for about 10 seconds on the other side. You don't want them to be completely cooked, as they will finish cooking when under the grill. Remove from the heat and pop back in their shells.
3. Arrange the scallop shells on a baking tray. A great tip to help keep them steady is to sprinkle a little pile of sea salt under each scallop shell, to create a little bed for them to sit on securely.
4. Heat the grill to high. Add a slice of wild garlic butter to each scallop, and grill for 1-2 mins, until the butter is melted and bubbling.
5. Serve with lemon wedges and bread for dunking.
