Scallops with brown butter sauce and sea urchin

Shellfish lovers, this one's for you. Fresh scallops get seared and drizzled with a brown butter dressing in this classy salad that's sure to impress.

• serves

  2

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 2 cups rock salt
• 12 hand-dived scallops in the half shell (purple shells if possible)
• 125 g unsalted butter
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) fish sauce
• 2 cm piece ginger, finely sliced
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) lime juice
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• ¼ cup finely diced green mango
• 2 tbsp crushed roasted peanuts 
• 4 whole sea urchin, roe removed
• Micro herbs, to garnish

Instructions

Scatter the rock salt over a large serving platter, making a nice even bed for the scallop shells to lay on.

Carefully remove the scallops from their shells and trim off the ‘heel’. Wash and dry the shells and place them on the rock salt ready to place the cooked scallops back into.

Place a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the butter and simmer for 5-8 minutes or until brown and nutty and brown. Turn off the heat, then stir in the fish sauce, ginger and spring onion. Be careful as the butter may bubble, so make sure your saucepan is big enough. Stir in the lime juice and set aside.

Place a large frying pan over high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil, season the scallops with sea salt and sear for 1 minute on one side, getting a nice caramelised surface without overcooking them. Turn the scallops over in the pan, then remove from the heat and place, golden-side up in the shells. Top with a generous tablespoon of burnt butter followed by 1 teaspoon diced green mango, ½ teaspoon peanuts and a piece of sea urchin roe. Garnish with micro herbs and serve immediately.

Photography by Alan Benson. Styling by Michelle Noerianto.

 Luke Nguyen's Food Trail airs Thursdays at 8pm on SBS. Visit the program page for recipes, videos and more.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.