Scallops with butternut squash, citrus and ginger

Roasted scallops with squash, citrus and ginger. Photograph: Harry Weir
Roasted scallops with squash, citrus and ginger. Photograph: Harry Weir
Serves: 2
Course: Dinner
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Prep Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 12 large scallops, roe removed
  • ½ a small butternut squash
  • 2tbs vegetable oil
  • 100ml white wine
  • 100m white wine vinegar
  • 50ml cream
  • 25g diced butter
  • 80g rainbow chard
  • 20g pickled ginger, thinly sliced
  • 1tbs pickled ginger juice
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2tbs vegetable oil
  • 40g butter
  • Sea salt
  • Mint leaves
  1. Take the scallops out of the fridge 10 minutes before cooking.
  2. Peel the squash, cut in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds. Cut the squash into angled pieces about half an inch thick and two inches long. Heat a nonstick frying pan and add the oil. Add the butternut squash pieces in a single layer and cook for five minutes on a medium heat until caramelised, then turn and cook for another four to five minutes until browned on the other side.
  3. Add the white wine and white-wine vinegar and deglaze the pan, then lower the heat and allow the liquid to simmer until it has reduced by half.
  4. Next, stir in the cream and diced butter gently and cook for two to three minutes until thickened slightly. Add the chard and cook for two minutes until wilted, then season with salt and remove the pan from the heat. Finish by stirring through the pickled ginger, pickle juice and lemon zest.
  5. Heat a separate large nonstick pan, add the vegetable oil and allow it to get smoking hot. Place the scallops in the pan and allow them to caramelise on one side before adding the butter. As the butter begins to foam, season the scallops with salt and flip them over. Baste them in the butter for a further minute, then remove them from the pan.
  6. To serve, place the scallops on a serving plate. Add some of the squash and chard before spooning over the sauce and garnishing with mint leaves.
Mark Moriarty

Mark Moriarty

Mark Moriarty is an award winning chef, TV host, author and Irish Times columnist.