A piquant dressing made with a heady bunch of fresh herbs, capers and olives accompanies sweet-flavoured scallops, seared over a high heat and served with long strands of pasta.
ingredients
serves: 4
1 pound 2 ounce fresh scallops,
with or without corals
3/4 pound dried tagliatelle
3 tablespoons olive oil
for the dressing:
A bunch of parsley
A bunch of mint
A bunch of chives
1 lemon
2 tablespoons white wine, or sherry, vinegar
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon capers
6 large stoned black olives
Salt and black pepper
method
1. Put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta. To make the dressing, rinse and dry the herbs. Chop the parsley and mint, snip the chives and put them in a measuring jug; you need 1 cup.
2. Wash any wax from the lemon, then grate the rind and add it to the jug with the wine or sherry vinegar and the extra virgin olive oil. Roughly chop the capers and olives and add them, then season to taste with salt and black pepper, mix well and set aside.
3. Check each scallop has had the small tough muscle removed, then rinse and dry If you are using large scallops, reserve the corals, slice them and season.
4. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions.
5. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over a high heat and fry the scallops for 4 - 6 minutes until lightly browned and only just cooked through.
6. Remove from the heat and pour on the dressing. Drain the pasta well and serve it topped with the dressed scallops.
6 users have helped to rate this recipe.
more information
Smaller scallops cook faster. Save cooking time if you have bought large scallops by slicing them widthways into two or three small discs.
