Name: Scallop Shell Salads with Chimichurri
Yield: Serves 6 As A Twee But Elegant Starter
Cuisine: Argentina
Ingredients: pinch of ground saffron steeped in a splash of boiling water; juice of 1 lime; knob of butter and a little oil; 6 scallop shell halves, washed; 12 scallops (18 to make it a more substantial snack)*; 2 spring onions (scallion(s)), julienned; big handful of frisée lettuce, pulled into sprigs; ¼ cucumber, julienned; 1 red (bell) pepper, julienned; sea salt; 100 ml/3½ fl oz. scant ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2 tbsp white wine vinegar; 50 g/1¾ oz/⅓ cup pecan quarters/pieces; 3 spring onions (scallion(s)), minced; ½ bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped; 2–3 sprigs of fresh oregano, chopped (or use 1 tsp.dried); ½ tsp cayenne; 6 garlic cloves, minced

Preparation info

Serves
6
As A Twee But Elegant Starter

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Salmagundi

By Sally Butcher

Published 2014

About

Shellfish is a dream to work with because it offers so many possibilities for flash presentation. And the scallop is the best of the lot, as it comes replete with its own dinky serving dish.

Chimichurri is pesto or pistou by any other name: an Argentinian parsley number, usually deployed as a sauce for steak.

Ingredients

For the Chimichurri

6 garlic cloves, minced
3 spring onions (scallion(s)), minced
½ bunch <

Method

Pound the garlic and onion together (you could do this in a blender if you like), then add the herbs, cayenne and salt to taste. Trickle in the olive oil and vinegar, and whisk into a green emulsion of sorts. Set aside until needed.

Toast (dry-fry) the pecans for a few minutes then take off the heat. Mix the cucumber, pepper and spring onions together with the frisée. Add the pecans and