Scallops with Black Pudding Salsa

The unusual accompaniment of black pudding salsa makes a really tasty dish when grilled.

The very best way to buy scallops is live in their shells, this way you can guarantee they're freshness and taste. Scallops are easy to open: Wash them to remove any sand, place the scallop flat side down on a board and simply run a thin sharp knife between the shells running it along the bottom shell, keeping it as close to the shell as possible. This will kill the scallop and the shell will open, carefully remove the scallop from the top shell with the knife.

Trim the scallop leaving simply the tender white meat and the coral (optional). Of course you can ask your fishmonger to do this but it means that the scallop is killed and will need to be cooked soon as the flavour will quickly deteriorate, I like to open them just before cooking.

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6 Portions as a starter or a light main
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Prep: 20 minutes (more if you are opening and cleaning the scallops yourself)
Cook: 5-8 minutes

Ingredients

Scallops

  • 24 live scallops in their shells (prepared as above or opened by your fishmonger), reserve the top half of the shell to cook the scallops

Black Pudding Salsa

  • 3 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 3 tomatoes, finely diced
  • 2 large red chillies, finely chopped (de seed for less heat)
  • 120g black pudding, sliced and grilled until cooked (2-3 minutes under a hot grill)
  • juice of half a lime
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 50ml virgin olive oil
  • generous pinch maldon salt

To Cook

  • 120g fresh bread crumbs
  • 50g grated parmesan
  • 50g unsalted butter

Method

  1. Black Pudding Salsa:Roughly dice the black pudding and mix it lightly with the remaining salsa ingredients in a bowl.
  2. To Cook: Preheat a grill to high. Place the scallops on their half shells on an oven tray. Place a generous helping of the salsa on each scallop, scatter over the bread crumbs and the parmesan and place a pinch of butter on each scallops.
  3. Cook the scallops under the grill for 3-4 minutes until bread crumbs and parmesan are golden. Remove the scallops from under the grill and serve at once.