Serves 2
We tend to eat a lot of fish and when scallops are on promo we just gobble them up. Served with crispy Bayonne ham this salad is a veritable feast of flavours. It can be eaten as a light supper dish ‘a deux’ or served as a starter for a dinner party (maybe 3 scallops per person for a starter to appear a generous host to your guests!)
Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus
Salt and pepper
8 scallops
4 thin slices Bayonne ham, roughly chopped
50 gr butter
Olive oil
2 tsps capers, rinsed
1 tblsp tarragon, finely chopped
Zest of a lemon
Juice of half a lemon
Freshly ground pepper
Salad leaves and rocket
Parsley, chopped
Method
The easiest way to find the best bit of the asparagus is by holding it in both hands and snapping it. Reserve the stalks for soup or stock.
Coat the asparagus in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in oven at 180c deg or gas 5 for 10-12 minutes, until soft. Keep warm.
Pan fry the Bayonne ham in a little olive oil until crispy. Remove and drain on to kitchen paper, keeping the oil in the pan.
Meanwhile wash any grit from the scallops and pat dry.
Place the butter into the frying pan with the remaining oil and heat up. Add the scallops and cook for only 3 minutes each side. Quickly add the capers, tarragon, lemon zest, lemon juice and freshly ground pepper and spoon over the scallops
Place salad leaves and rocket on plates, then the asparagus. Carefully spoon the scallops and juices on top. Any remaining sauce can be dribbled over the asparagus and the salad leaves. Top with the crispy Bayonne ham and chopped parsley and serve immediately
Roasted Asparagus and scallops with tarragon, caper and lemon butter
Everything suddenly seems to wake up in May after a long, cold and sometimes mizzly winter. Shops re-open their doors, cafes are buzzing with people sitting outside at last and houses, whose shutters have been tightly closed all winter, are showing signs of inhabitants as sheets and carpets are hung out to dry or air and there’s a definite feeling that summer is truly on its way.
One of my favourite things to look forward to in May is the abundance of asparagus, grown locally, which appears in the markets in all different shapes, sizes and colours. These graceful spears have always been a sign of elegance and, in times past, were a delicacy only the wealthy could afford.
I therefore make no apology for paying homage to this short lived vegetable with three recipes I hope you’ll find as yummy as my guinea pig husband did. Poor Hugh was fed it at least 5 times in a week as I tweaked the recipes here and there. However, one lovely comment he made was ‘I love that you write the recipes for the Herault Times’. I think enough said really!