Our resident chef columnist on how to dress your raw shellfish and impress your guests

Now we’re entering dinner party season, it’s time to fish out the scallops. Everyone loves them as a starter and fresh ones in the shell require very little cooking – or no cooking at all.

A raw scallop briefly marinaded in citrus juices is a delicious thing made even better if you live in the countryside and can get out to pick some pennywort. I serve this dish throughout the year, introducing some finely shredded vegetables, ranging from asparagus to carrots depending on the season. It’s a dish that’s worth sharpening up your knife skills for.

The trick is to always buy scallops in the shell so you know they’re still alive. Processed ones are soaked, so when you cook them, the pan simply fills up with water and it’s harder for the flavours to infuse.

Remember to make the dressing the day before and you’ll have a dinner party dish that people will be talking about for weeks.

Marinaded scallops and Pennywort salad

SERVES 4

• 4 large or 6 medium cleaned scallops
• A handful of small salad leaves like pennywort
• 1tbsp of ponzu or yuzu (or the juice of a couple of limes)

FOR THE DRESSING

• 1 small shallot, peeled, halved and finely chopped
• Half a small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
• A small piece of root ginger (around 20g), scraped and finely chopped
• 4-5cm piece of celery, peeled if necessary and finely chopped
• ½ small red chilli, trimmed, seeded and finely chopped
• 1tbsp tomato ketchup
• ½tbsp ketjap manis soy sauce
• 1tsp balsamic vinegar
• 50-60ml vegetable or corn oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½tbsp chopped coriander

Method

• First make the dressing, preferably the day before. Whisk all the ingredients together, season lightly and leave to infuse in the fridge overnight.
• Slice each scallop into four pieces, lay on a plate and spoon over the ponzu and leave for no more than a minute.
• Arrange the scallops and pennywort on serving plates and spoon the dressing over the leaves.