Scallops, noix de saint-jacques, are usually sold removed from their shells. The edible part of the scallop is the pale muscle and orange roe (coral). They are sold either with or without the roe. I personally think that it is trickier to pan-fry the scallops with the roe. The frying time will depend on the thickness of scallops. Many French recipes recommend frying for only 1 minute, and then the pan has to be really hot. Over-cooking results in tough and rubbery scallops.

In this recipe, the scallops are decorated with grated clementine zest. Alimea Corsican clementines are 100 % organic. They are in season from October to the end of January. They are not waxed or treated after harvest so that you can safely use their zest in cooking, after washing them of course.

Because pan-frying scallops takes only 1- 1 ½ minutes on both sides and they should be served immediately, some planning is wise. It is best to prepare all the vegetables that you are going to serve on the side as well as the clementine sauce before you start frying the scallops. You might try steamed leeks, green beans or braised endives, all go very well with scallops. Serve good whole wheat bread to mop up the sauce.

2 servings

For the scallops:

6-8 fresh scallops
2- 3 tbsp rapeseed oil for frying

For the clementine sauce:

Juice of 2 Corsican clementines
Grated zest of 1 clementine
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
150 ml water
½ cube vegetable stock, preferably organic
1 tsp soya sauce
2 tsp lavender honey or other runny honey
Black pepper

Step 1: Zester the clementine

In a small saucepan, warm the rapeseed oil and soften the shallot for about 10 minutes. Add the water and the ½ cube vegetable stock and bring to a boil.

Zester one clementine and  set aside the zest.

Step 3: Dry the scallops

Dry the scallops with kitchen paper. The scallops I bought today are a real challenge to fry because of such a range in size, but this was what they had in our local supermarket today. I am planning to fry the large ones 1 ½ minutes on both sides and the small ones 1 minute on both sides.

Step 4: Fry the scallops

Heat the rapeseed oil in a heavy frying pan over a high heat and fry the scallops. The planned timing of frying turned out nice.