cullen scallops with grapefruit and radish

Aha, I hear you think, she must mean Cullen Skink? Well yes, I am indeed at the end of my holiday in Cullen, Aberdeenshire, home of the famous creamy smoked Haddock Broth.This week, the town has an identity crisis. Cullen thinks it is the Caribbean, with one additional layer of clothing, and Speyside Malt instead of Rum cocktails. The golf course has two holes that involve teeing off either up a cliff or down a cliff. We even had dolphins. Scotophiles, please add Cullen to your list of beautiful places.

One of the many joys of this seaside town is the fresh-off-the-boat and brilliantly priced fish and seafood. Shopping trips to Eat Mair Fish in Buckie had me rack up a bill of £12 for eight fresh juicy scallops, a haddock, and two whopping fresh dover sole (soles? Grammar check needed) and separately half a halibut for £8.



Still engrossed in my copy of The Flavour Thesaurus (which I am sad to say came on holiday with me), I discovered that grapefruit and seafood are apparently dream pairing and put together this dish which adds purple radishes. Might I say that this is one of the best trios since sage, pumpkin and pasta, the three little piggies or Bananarama.

Ingredients
Scallops. Super fresh ones please. I allowed 4 per person. As a starter. Ooooh the gluttony.
Pink Grapefruit
Radishes, ideally purple ones
Half an egg yolk per 2 people
Butter and olive oil (a generous splodge)

To make it:
Firstly, operate on your grapefruit so that you have skinless segments. I allowed quarter of a grapefruit per person.
Secondly, slice your radishes really really thinly. Say about 4 radishes per person. Plop in the same bowl as your grapefruit.

In a pan, heat your butter and olive oil together until foaming. Add the scallops and cook at as high a heat that your butter will allow without burning. After a few minutes pour off the oil/butter into a separate container and carry on cooking the scallops with less fat so that they will crisp on the edges. Don’t overcook! Allow 4-5 minutes on each side maximum but less if you can cope with semi-sashimi texture.

Put the scallops to one side to rest. Pour the grapefruit juice from the container of wedges into the butter/olive oil mix, which should now hopefully be quite cool. Mix with a fork so the mixture really is cool. Then, beat in half the egg yolk. Pour this mixture into the warm pan and cook, beating well, for a couple of minutes until it becomes thick and glossy. Serve with the scallops and grapefruit/radish salad. Preferably, in a setting like this: