SPRING BAY SCALLOPS WITH SWEETCORN CREPE, LEMONGRASS AND MUSSELL BUTTER
Recipe: Neil
Perry, Rockpool, Sydney, ©
2004
20 portions
CREPES
Makes 20 crepes
Ingredients:
2 whole eggs
3 cups milk
2 cups plain
flour
Pinch sea salt
1 Tablespoon
vegetable oil
Method:
Gently whisk the
eggs, milk and flour together with the salt and vegetable oil.
Heat a crepe pan
and pour just enough crepe mix in to cover the base thinly. Cook over a low
heat until the mixture just starts to blister then remove the crepe and place
aside. Repeat with the remainder of the crepe mixture.
CORN PUREE
Enough for 20
crepes
Ingredients:
10 cobs corn
1 small knob
ginger
Olive oil
Water
Method:
Remove all the
corn from the cobs and juice half.
Cook the ginger
in a splash of olive oil on a very low heat, just enough to remove the raw
flavour.
Add the juiced
corn along with the whole kernels and a splash of water. Cook until tender and
set aside.
MUSSEL BUTTER
20 portions
approximately
Ingredients:
250g unsalted
butter, softened
375g mussels,
scrubbed and de-bearded
White wine, for
steaming
1 teaspoon
turmeric powder
1 teaspoon
paprika powder
1 ½ stalks
lemongrass, finely chopped
1 clove garlic,
finely chopped
½ kaffir lime,
skin only, no pith
2 kaffir lime
leaves, bruised
Sea salt, to
taste
Method:
Add a splash of
white wine to a large pot with a tight fitting lid. When boiling, add the
mussels and steam open. Discard any mussels that don’t open. Remove the open
mussels from the pot and set aside.
Add the turmeric
and paprika powders to the steaming liquid and reduce by 1/3.
Remove the
mussels from their shells and place in a blender, along with the lemongrass,
garlic, kaffir lime skins and leaves and reduced broth. Blend to a smooth
paste.
In a food
processor, mix the softened butter, salt and mussel paste to smooth then pass
the mixture through a fine drum sieve.
Set aside.
TOM YUM BROTH
20 portions
Ingredients:
1 litre chicken
stock
2 Tablespoons
chilli paste (see separate recipe)
2 stalks
lemongrass, bruised
1 Spanish onion,
roughly chopped
1 small knob
ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small knob
galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic,
peeled and roughly chopped
3 kaffir lime
leaves, bruised
1 long red
chilli, split
4 wild green
chillies, crushed
8 cherry
tomatoes
Method:
Place the stock
in a large saucepan with all the chilli paste and all vegetables and bring to a
gentle boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop then
strain trough a fine sieve.
TO SERVE:
Lay a crepe out
flat on the bench. Place a portion of corn puree down the centre of the crepe
without going too close to the edges. Trim the edges of the crepe and fold the
puree inside, creating a rectangle.
Place the crepe
in the centre of a service plate.
In a hot fry
pan, sear 5 scallops quickly on one side then turn and sear a further 10
seconds on the other side.
Place the
scallops on top of the crepe in one straight line.
Heat a ladle of
tom yum broth and whisk a Tablespoon of mussel butter into the broth.
Pour over the
crepe and serve.