' DIVER SCALLOP, WINTER CITRUS & CRESS .'

Pan seared Wild caught Diver Scallop, Parsnip puree, Kumquats, Meyer Lemon, Imperial Mandarin, Fresh Watercress and Horseradish bubbles.

               This little taster dish has zip and zest, tantalising your taste buds with each mouthful. Using the winter citrus fruits made available at this time of the year, to accompany the sweet tasting diver scallop paired up perfectly and that slight pungency from the horseradish bubbles along with the peppery notes from the cress gave the dish a great complexity of flavours. This dish was a bit of a throw together from the left over scallops from the other days ceviche and the fruit a ha picked up at the local markets to do the miracle berry tasting. I had seen similar pairings done before and more recently by a chef from the U.S.                                                                                                                                  
                 To put this together I made the puree first by boiling some parsnips in salted water until they were soft and tender. I then placed the parsnips with a little melted butter and some cream into a blender and blended to form a puree which was then corrected for seasoning and set aside. I prepared the citrus fruit next, by thinly slicing the cumquats and segmenting the other fruit these were then set aside. Just before plating I foraged the backyard garden for fresh water cress. The cress was washed and dressed in a little olive oil. I then prepared the horse radish bubbles by juicing some fresh horse radish placing into a wide mouth tumbler adding some rice wine vinegar, water, salt, sugar and soy lecithin. With a stick blender, I  then mixed the liquid on high to form the bubbles. Heating a small skillet on a medium high heat I seared the sea scallop on both sides in a little butter for 45 seconds or so, just long enough to turn the flesh opaque and form a caramelised crust.                                                                                  
                 To plate I made a swipe on the plate with the parsnip puree arranging the citrus on top. I then placed the scallop adjacent and top with the horse radish bubbles. I then garnished the dish using the dressed watercress and seasoned with smoked sea salt and cracked black pepper.