I love scallops and to be honest think they make the most perfect starters, something about them I just find to be elegant and can really make a dish look great. I often struggle when it comes to portion sizing but with scallop starters, I do find it easier to manage portion control.
I made this scallop starter as a nice 3 course romantic dinner for Rach and was really happy with the way it turned out. I have been trying to improve the way my presentation looks and overall I think I am happy with this (still room for improvement though!!)
The first thing I wanted to make sure was that I had some good quality scallops, I do think that is important as it really does add to the taste. Its also very important that they are cooked properly, to be honest I tend to overcook them as I am a bit funny with fish.
This starter is actually a really good one to do if you are short on time as it really doesn’t take very long to make. The first thing that needs to be done is cooking of the celeriac, to help speed up this process you want to remove the skin and cut into small cubes.
Pop these into a saucepan of water and cook until you can place a fork or knife through it. Once cooked drain the water and place into a blender with a splash of milk and some butter, blitz in the blender until smooth. If it’s hard to blend then add a little more milk, don’t forget to taste and season if you feel it needs it.
Once it’s blended get a strainer and put the puree through to remove any bumps and you should have a nice smooth texture. Put this to one side and heat the oil in a frying pan until its hot, add the scallops and cook on one side for roughly 1 minute. Add a lump of butter and flip the scallops and cook on the other side for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Ensure the scallops are cooking before taking off the heat, once they are remove them.
For the plating of the dish I place the puree first and spread this along with the spoon and placed 3 scallops up the puree. Get an apple and thinly cut this into strips and place these around the scallops, add some crushed walnuts a couple of rocket leaves and then thinly slice a radish for a little kick. This recipe is perfect for 2 people, if you need to do it for more just increase the ingredients. If you do make it or have a recipe you like that includes scallops, let me know in the comments below! 🙂
PrintScallop with Celeriac Puree Starter
This starter is an impressive dish to server at a dinner party, the plating is key to make it look restaurant quality
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Fish
Ingredients
- Half Celeriac Cubed
- 6 Scallops
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 100 ml milk
- Rocket salad leaves
- 1 Green apple
- 4 crushed walnuts
- 2 Radish
Instructions
- Place the cubed celeriac into a saucepan of water and season with salt, cook on a medium heat until the celeriac is soft
- Put the celeriac into a blender with half of the butter and the milk and blend until a smooth puree
- To reduce lumps further strain the puree until all lumps have been removed.
- Cook the Scallops on one side with the oil for 1 minute
- Place the remaining butter in the frying pan and flip the scallops and cook for another minute or until fully cooked
- Put the puree onto the plate and add the scallops
- Garnish with sliced apple, radish, salad and crushed walnuts
Nutrition
- Calories: 337
- Sugar: 11.5
- Sodium: 361.8
- Fat: 23.2
- Saturated Fat: 9.5
- Carbohydrates: 20.7
- Fiber: 3.5
- Protein: 12.4
- Cholesterol: 53.5