Читать книгу Made in Italy: Food and Stories - Giorgio Locatelli - Страница 60

Sautéed scallops are fantastic just with salad, if you don’t feel like making the celeriac purée with which we serve them in the restaurant. Scallops were a great revelation for me when I came to London, because here in the UK you have the best in the world. In the Mediterranean we have what are known as ‘queenies’, which are much smaller, and don’t have the same milky sweetness.

8 large fresh scallops or 12 small ones, cleaned but with any corals still attached

4-5 celery stalks

4 tablespoons Saffron vinaigrette (see page 52)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

salt and pepper

For the celeriac purée:

½ celeriac, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves

1 sprig of rosemary

3 tablespoons double cream

20g butter

If the scallops have been in the fridge, bring them to room temperature before cooking.

To make the celeriac purée, preheat the oven to 180°C, gas 4, put the celeriac in an ovenproof dish with ½ wine glass of water, a pinch of salt and the olive oil, garlic and rosemary, seal completely with foil and then bake for about 30 minutes, until soft.

Transfer to a food processor and blend, adding the cream as you go. Then push through a fine sieve, so you have a smooth purée (it is important to process the celeriac while it is still hot, as it makes the purée smoother and it will pass through the sieve more easily). Keep the purée to one side.

Cut the celery into julienne strips and leave in a bowl with a handful of ice cubes to crisp them. Have the Saffron vinaigrette ready in a large, shallow bowl. Mix the lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil.

Turn the oven up to 190°C, gas 5. Heat a large ovenproof frying pan – or 2 if you have 12 scallops (see my note about overcrowding the pan on page 105). When the pan is good and hot, but not smoking (or the scallops will burn), pour in the vegetable oil, then add the scallops. Don’t season them at this stage, or the salt will make them leach out their moisture and they will become dry.

Let the scallops turn nice and golden on their undersides (about 1½ minutes for large scallops, less for smaller ones), then turn them over and place the pan in the oven for 1 minute. This just makes sure that after frying them harshly on the outside they are cooked through. Season and transfer them to the bowl of Saffron vinaigrette.

Warm up the celeriac purée in a small pan and season if necessary. Remove from the heat and beat in the butter.

Spoon the purée on to 4 serving plates and arrange the scallops on top. Drain the celery from the ice, season with the lemon oil and arrange on top of the scallops. Drizzle the remaining Saffron vinaigrette around.