Isle of Mull scallops with bacon, peas and fermented lettuce

Start the fermented lettuce and pickled white strawberries at least 1 day before you want to serve the dish. For the fermented lettuce, weigh the lettuces and calculate 3% of their weight in salt. Place the lettuces into a vacuum bag with the salt and massage thoroughly to ensure the leaves are evenly coated. Seal under full vacuum and leave to ferment at room temperature for 24 hours. If you don’t have a vacuum packing machine, you can ferment the lettuce in a jar – push the lettuce into the jar along with the liquid released from massaging it with the salt and cover with a disc of baking paper. This will make more than you need

For the pickled white strawberries, place the vinegar, sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has fully dissolved

Place the strawberries in a sterilised jar or airtight container. Pour over the hot pickling liquor, ensuring the fruit is fully submerged, and allow to cool completely. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, then drain and finely slice. Set aside

After the lettuce has fermented, drain it and reserve the liquid. Finely shred the lettuce, weigh out 75g and set aside for serving

For the fermented lettuce sauce, place the white wine in a small saucepan over a medium heat and reduce by half. Add the shredded fermented lettuce along with the crème fraîche, bring to the boil and reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook for a few minutes until slightly reduced and the flavours have combined

Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Blend with a handheld blender until smooth, lightly emulsified and slightly aerated, then pass through a fine mesh sieve for a smoother texture. Keep warm until needed

For the bonito and bay leaf butter, heat the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until it turns a light hazelnut brown colour. Remove the pan from the heat and add the bonito flakes and bay leaves. Set aside to allow it to infuse for 1 hour

For the mint oil, heat the oil in a small pan to 120°C, whilst you put the mint leaves in a Thermomix (or see below if you don’t have a Thermomix)

Carefully and quickly pour over the mint and blend on a high heat until smooth. Pour the mixture into a large bowl set over a bowl of ice, then stir to ensure it cools down quickly. Alternatively, if you don’t have a Thermomix, place the mint and oil in a high-powered blender and blend on full speed until the mixture is smooth and steam begins to rise from the oil (about 3-5 minutes). Pour into a saucepan and gently bring to a boil to extract the chlorophyll, stirring occasionally – this will happen as soon as it comes to boil; the oil and solids will separate and turn the oil bright green. Cool as above

Once cold, hang in a nut milk bag or muslin cloth tied together at the ends in the fridge to drain out the oil. Place the drained oil into a piping bag and store this upright so any water falls to the tip of the piping bag. When ready to serve, snip the end and drain and water. Place the oil into a container or bottle to use

Once the butter has infused, strain it through a muslin cloth or fine sieve to remove the solids, reserving the clarified butter for serving. This will make more than you need

For the fresh podded peas, blanch them briefly in well-salted water then transfer to iced water. Once cool, drain and store until needed

For the Alsace bacon, place a frying pan over a low heat with the bacon and oil and slowly cook it to render out the fat and crisp up the edges. Strain through a sieve, reserving both the crisp bacon and rendered fat separately for serving

Preheat a charcoal grill for direct grilling

To cook the scallops, heat a frying pan until smoking hot. Sear the scallops on one side until caramelised around the edge then flip over and add a knob of the bonito and bay butter. Baste until golden and the scallop is nearly cooked through

Transfer the scallops into their shells and onto the grill, allowing the butter to gently smoke and finish cooking the scallop. Set the scallops aside to rest in the butter

Gently reheat the fermented lettuce sauce then lightly aerate it with a handheld blender. Transfer into a jug and add in some mint oil to split the sauce

Warm the Alsace bacon fat in a saucepan over a medium heat then stir through the fermented lettuce, pickled white strawberries, bacon and peas until warmed through. Remove from the heat and fold through the fresh shredded lettuce. Spoon the warm vegetables into the clean scallop shell halves (or you can serve on plates)

Slice the scallops, season with lemon juice and sea salt then place on top of the vegetables. Garnish with mint leaves then pour over the sauce and serve immediately