Dived Scallops with Avocado and Pink Grapefruit Salsa

This recipe comes from Scottish Highland Hospitality, which you can read more about in my recipe post for dairy-free cod brandade. It was my favourite recipe from the book, mostly because of the salsa. The key is to buy really tasty avocados and grapefruit. I splurged on organic grapefruit (I also bought conventional ones to compare) and it made all the difference.

The other trick – as it always is with scallops – is to give them a good sear. This recipe actually calls for you to sear them over a gentle heat for about 2 minutes. So you need lots of olive oil or they’ll just stick to the pan, end up tough and/or never turn golden.

Making the yellow pepper salsa is bit of work because of broiling and peeling the peppers, but essential. It makes a delicious, simple, blended sauce. Mine looks pretty green because I added more parsley than called for, but besides the visual aesthetics, it was heaven.

You should use big scallops for this recipe, but if all you can find is smaller bay ones, that’s alright. My scallops weren’t awesome, honestly. They had recently been frozen and they didn’t have the sweetness I associate with amazing scallop sashimi. But that’s why the salsa was important. It doesn’t overpower the scallop flavour (if there is any…) but it’s so good on its own. You can even eat any leftovers with tortilla chips.

And if you need a little refresher, here’s how to segment a grapefruit, which you’ll need to do for this salsa:

Dived Scallops with Avocado and Pink Grapefruit Salsa
adapted from Scottish Highland Hospitality

Makes 4 main course servings, or 8 appetizers

For the salsa:
2 ripe avocados, diced
2 pink grapefruit, segmented and diced (see video above)
25 fresh cilantro, chopped as fine as you like for salsa (usually pretty fine)
1 fresh red chili pepper, de-seeded, deveined and finely chopped
2 green onions, finely chopped
10 g fresh chives, finely chopped
Juice of 2 limes (or a little more to taste, but it shouldn’t be overly sour)

Yellow pepper dressing:
2 yellow peppers, de-seeded and de-veined
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
10 g fresh parsley, chopped
Juice of 1/2 a lemon (~2 tbsp)

2 tbsp olive oil, divided
16-24 scallops, or 4-6 per person, depending on size (of the scallop, not the person)

Instructions:
Mix all the salsa ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

Combine the pepper pieces with the olive oil, flatten them and place on a baking sheet,  and broil on high for 5-10 minutes, until lightly charred. Turn off broiled and leave in hot oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining dressing ingredients in a blender. Remove the peels of the peppers and discard the peels. Add the flesh to the blender and purée until smooth.

Warm 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat and add as many of the scallops as will fit comfortably without touching each other (you might need to do two batches, adding the second tbsp of olive oil for the second batch). Cook 2 minutes on each side. Remove from pan.

To serve, drizzle some dressing around the edge of each of four plates (8 if serving as appetizers), stack some salsa in the centre and arrange the scallops around the salsa. Done!