Scallop, mussel & dill

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This elegant scallop dish by Max Coen makes for a showstopping starter. Scallops are gently seared, then finished in brown butter and served with a herby mussel emulsion and sea urchin sauce. Verjus and fermented passion fruit juice are used to season the dish, making it a dish with bold, yet complementary, flavours.

First published in 2025

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

For the scallops

For the herb oils

For the mussel emulsion

For the sea urchin passion fruit sauce

Equipment

  • High-power blender
  • Muslin cloth
  • Vacuum bag and machine
  • Food processor
  • Steam oven

Method

1

Shuck the scallops, reserving the shells, then refresh them in a very cold ice bath

2

Drain the scallops and place them on a rack set on a tray in the blast chiller or a fridge for 12 hours to dry out the surface

3

For the dill oil, blend the dill and 500g oil in a high speed blender until the dill has broken down, then set aside

  • 250g of dill
  • 500g of neutral oil
4

For the parsley oil, repeat with the parsley and remaining 250g oil, then set aside in a separate bowl

5

Strain the each mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl set over an ice bath to help cool it down very quickly

  • ice
6

Leave the herb oils to infuse overnight in the fridge

7

Line two sieves with muslin, and set each one over another bowl. Pour each oil into a sieve, and then leave to strain. This will take 12 hours

8

Transfer each strained oil to a zip loc bag, or else vac pac it in a plastic bag

9

Hang the bag with one corner pointing straight down. The water will fall to the bottom corner of the bag, which you can snip off to carefully drain the water – this will take about an hour. You’ll be left with just the green oil

10

For the mussel emulsion, first blend together all the ingredients for the mussel emulsion apart from the oils

11

Slowly drizzle the oils into the blender while it’s running to emulsify in the herb oils

  • 300g of dill oil, from above
  • 100g of parsley oil, from above
12

For the sea urchin passion fruit sauce, first finely chop the carrots in a food processor, and then vac pack them with the rapeseed oil

13

Steam in a steam oven at 95°C and 100% steam for 45 minutes

14

Meanwhile, reduce the carrot juice by three quarters, scraping the sides of the pan as you go. This will help you get a pure orange sauce at the end of the reduction

  • 500ml of carrot juice
15

Blend the reduced carrot juice, sea urchin, chopped mango and passionfruit, then season with the passion fruit juice and Verjus

16

When ready to serve, heat a pan with a good amount of oil. Once hot, place the scallops in the pan, making sure there is a hard sizzle once the meat makes contact with the pan. Cook until dark golden on one side only, then set aside

  • rapeseed oil, for cooking
17

Warm some brown butter in a pan over a very low heat. Rest the scallops in the warm bath of brown butter until their internal temperature is 46°C

18

Fry the greens in rapeseed oil until bright green and tender

19

Serve with the fried brassica leaves on top of the dill emulsion. Score the scallop and sit on top of the greens

20

Foam the sea urchin sauce and pour the foam over the dill emulsion.

First published in 2025

A star-studded career with stints at Frantzén and Ikoyi helped inform Max Coen’s creative cooking. Now, at his Notting Hill restaurant Dorian, he’s throwing away some of the fine-dining norms to create his own style of uniquely delicious food: and the city is all the better for it.   

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