Craig Hart recipe: Seared scallops and spiced white chocolate purée
Recipe: Seared scallops, spiced white chocolate purée, burnt leek and samphire
Try this with a Mediterranean-inspired Gin Mare from Spain. Pour a 50ml measure over ice and garnish with clapped basil (clap the basil between your hands to release more flavour from it) and a sprig of rosemary, topped with Fever Tree natural tonic.
Ingredients
- 1kg chicken wings
- 1 onion
- 1 leek
- 100g carrot
- 10g garlic
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 5g peppercorns
- 50g tomato paste
- half a litre red wine
- 1 baby red beetroot
- 1 marbled beetroot
- 200g parsnips
- 50ml milk
- 50ml cream
- 50g white chocolate buttons
- 3 packets baby leeks
- 100g samphire
- 6 hand dived scallops, orange
- roe removed
- 1 packet radishes
- 4 sprigs micro watercress
- 100g butter
Serves: 2 Difficulty: Medium Time to cook: 360 mins
Method
1. For a red wine chicken jus, roast the chicken wings in a tray at 160C/Gas Mark 3 for around 30 minutes until a light brown colour.
2. Chop the onion, leek, carrot, garlic and thyme and sweat them in a pan with the peppercorns until brown. Add the tomato paste and red wine and reduce by half. Add the chicken wings and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer slowly for 6 hours until the liquid has reduced by three quarters and will coat the back of a spoon. Strain through a fine sieve.
3. Boil the two types of beetroot in a little boiling salted water until cooked, peel off the outside skin, cut into 2.5cm/½ inch pieces.
4. Peel the parsnips and cut into small chunks, slowly cook with the cream and milk in a covered pan until the parsnips are soft, strain off the liquid and retain. Slowly blitz the parsnip to a purée and add some of the cooking mixture. Add the white chocolate buttons until melted. Season to taste.
5. In a pan bring salted water to the boil. Blanche one half packet’s worth of baby leeks until soft and refresh in iced water.
6. Place the rest of the baby leeks on a baking tray and cook in an oven for 3 hours at 180C/Gas Mark 4 until completely burnt. Blitz with a food processor until a powder.
7. Blanche the samphire in boiling water and refresh in iced water.
8. Heat up the parsnip and chocolate purée and spread on the plate. Reheat the samphire, beetroots and baby leeks, toss in the melted butter and season to taste.
9. Sear the scallops in a pan for 1 minute each side, then arrange them on the purée with all the vegetables. Finish with the cut radishes, micro watercress and drizzle with the red wine chicken jus. Scatter the burnt leek powder.