Tried & Tested - Scallops and Crossroads Chardonnay

The dish - Pan-roasted Scallops and Cauliflower Puree from Gordon Ramsay's book, Sunday Lunch.

The verdict:

I loved the idea of this dish – I’ve made cauliflower puree before and it’s a good addition to roasts, placed under green veggies for extra flavour. Here it formed a nice base for the scallops, but sadly I thought that the puree/sauce on top was, texturally, too similar to the cauliflower. Also, although the piquancy was a great idea, the sweet and sour flavours dominated the scallop.

The wine:

The Crossroads Chardonnay was very forgiving, adding some refreshing acidity that coped with the bold flavours of the caper puree. But overall I felt that it would have been much more fun with a more Asian-inspired dish, perhaps – see below for some ideas!

Alternatives:

The scallop and cauliflower would be nicer with a bit of texture from, say, some fried chorizo. Or, keep the capers whole and add to lemon juice, zest and olive oil to form a piquant dressing.

But my thoughts kept drifting to an Asian-inspired dressing of sesame oil, a dash of light soy sauce, lime and a spike of chilli. I think this would be perfect with the refreshing Chardonnay, highlighting the flavours of sesame in both the wine and the dressing. See underneath Gordon’s recipe for my Asian-style dressing that can be poured over the scallops (but, please, no purees!)

Pan-Roasted Scallops, cauliflower puree, and a piquant dressing

Serves  4

Method

To make the cauliflower puree, melt the butter in a pan, add the cauliflower and sauté for 3-4 mins. Add the milk and continue to cook for 2-3 mins, then pour in the cream and return to a gentle boil. Partially cover and cook for a few mins until soft. Season well then tip the cauliflower into a food processor and whiz until smooth.

Rinse the capers thoroughly in a sieve. Bring the water to the boil in a small saucepan, add the sultanas and capers and then liquidise them into a smooth puree.

Whisk vinaigrette ingredients together and season

Scallops  - season them lightly with sea salt and curry powder and cook in a hot pan for 1 min each side – they should feel springy when pressed

After resting for 1 min, halve the scallops and place on a blob of puree then drizzle the ‘dressing’  and vinaigrette over them.

Problems:

You cannot drizzle the ‘dressing' over the scallops – you’ll find that the puree you made is too thick and can only be placed on top.

What you have is a lot of soft textures; soft scallop, soft cauliflower, soft caper and sultana puree and a vinaigrette sloshing around the scallops. The textures seem wrong.

It’s interesting that an online version of the same recipe calls for the dressing to be the texture of a ‘thin compote’ and omits the vinaigrette. Also, for that version, Gordon halves the scallops and cooks them for 20-30 seconds each side rather than cooking them whole for 1 min on each side.

It’s a shame – I had high hopes for this dish – especially with the success of last week’s Gordon-inspired duck, but you can’t win them all. Never mind the scallops – just drink the Chardonnay...!

Asian-inspired dressing

Take the freshly cooked scallops and add a drizzle of the dressing below. Add leaves of your choice, scattered around or underneath the scallops.

• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 1 spring onion, thin sliced
• sprinkle chopped coriander
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• Squeeze of lime
• Sliced red chilli – to taste