Cured fennel scallop tartare
Serving scallops in their raw form is one of the best ways to showcase their incredible natural sweetness. Here, Amy Elles dices scallop and combines it with cucumber and cured fennel to make a tartare, which is presented in the shells alongside a tomato consommé for an elegant but fantastically fresh starter
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
Scallops
- 4 scallops, in their shell
- juice of 1 lime, plus extra for serving
Tomato consommé
- 3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
Cured fennel
- 1 fennel bulb, diced
- 1/4 tsp fennel seeds, toasted
- 50g of caster sugar
- 50g of white wine vinegar
To serve
- 1/4 cucumber, finely diced
- edible flowers, and leaves, such as bronze fennel or sprigs of dill
Method
Mix all the ingredients for the cured fennel except for the fennel with some salt and 50g water. Whisk until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Add the diced fennel and leave to cure overnight
- 1/4 tsp fennel seeds, toasted
- 50g of caster sugar
- 50g of white wine vinegar
- 1 fennel bulb, diced
Blend the tomatoes with a pinch of salt. Line a bowl with a clean, dry tea towel and add the tomato mixture to the centre. Gather up and tie the ends of the towel so that the tomato pulp is sealed inside
- 3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
Either hang the tomato pulp over the bowl and let it drip out naturally overnight or squeeze it by hand to produce a clear tomato consommé. Allowing the liquid to drip out overnight will produce the clearest liquid, but gently squeezing the tomato liquid out will work as well
Once the fennel is cured, remove the scallops from the shell. Clean the shells very thoroughly, as these will be used to serve the scallop tartare. Remove the scallop roe and set aside for another dish, then clean the scallop thoroughly
- 4 scallops, in their shell
Dice the scallop meat and mix with the lime juice and a pinch of salt. Gently mix to combine and let cure in the fridge for 10-20 minutes, depending on your taste and the size of the dice
Spoon a little scallop tartare, cured fennel and cucumber in each scallop shell. Squeeze over some extra lime juice and pour in the tomato consommé. Eat straight away, garnished with edible flowers
- 1/4 cucumber, finely diced
- edible flowers, and leaves, such as bronze fennel or sprigs of dill
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