Scallops in Butter with Balsamic Lentil Salad

Ingredients

• 12 scallops (you can ask your local fishmonger if they have any scallops with shell, but this isn’t necessary unless you want to plate it up like I presented it)
• 20 g of butter
• salt & pepper to your liking
• coriander & roughly chopped macadamia nuts for garnish (optional)
  
  For the Salad
• 1 cup of green lentils
• 1 roughly chopped red capsicum
• 1 finely chopped red onion (as seen on this video, my knife skills were not up to par)
• 1 diced Lebanese cucumber
  
  For the Dressing
• 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• a pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions serves 4

1. Grab a deep saucepan and fill up with water for your lentils
2. Prepare all your vegetables and set aside in a big bowl
3. Once the water is boiling, add your lentils and cook for 5 minutes
4. Strain lentils once cooked
5. Grab a food blender or processor and blitz all the ingredients for the dressing
6. In a big bowl dress your chopped vegetables & lentils with the dressing (leave some dressing for plating)
7. Mix salad well and set aside
8. Have a plate lined with a paper towel
9. On a large hot pan, add the first six scallops, then once sizzling add your butter
10. Add the rest of your scallops and allow it to poach for 3 minutes max
11. Take your scallops off the pan and place them on the plate lined with paper towel
12. Grab your shells and dollop a tablespoon of dressing onto the middle of the shell
13. Place scallop on top of the dollop and add 1 spoon of salad mixture
14. Garnish and your done!

This scallop appetiser is fresh, full of flavour and perfect to get your party started. A zingy dressing for the salad next to the soft butter poached scallops, will get everyone wanting more!

I say buy as many scallops as you would like. It really depends on how many people you are making for. I always have a tendency to make more food than I can consume in a single seating so there was plenty of salad left over.

The dressing was something I came up with two days prior to filming and I found that the maple syrup was that extra thing it needed to tie the dish together.

I definitely picked the worst day to wear white here. Thankfully no stains made it’s way to my polo.