At Christmas Eve I made scallops with a cream of saffron colored cauliflower, an easy to prepare dish. I love scallops, this delicate fish is so tender. They call it the fruits of the sea for a reason. Scallops can be eaten raw, I prefer slightly to bake them lightly. The ingredients are for 2 persons.
Ingredients
- 6 scallops
- 7 pieces of parma ham (like prosciutto di parma or San Daniele)
- saffron
- 1/2 cauliflower
- milk
- Butter
- Almonds (some for decoration)
- vegetables like seaweed
I always use the real saffron, because of the taste. You can also use turmeric or powder of saffron. Be aware of the taste of turmeric it’s more heavy.
Preparing the dish
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. When the oven is heated roast one piece of ham till it’s crispy (Between 10-15 minutes).
Wash the cauliflower and cut in small pieces. Place the pieces in a pan and add milk to it. In my opinion it is better to use fat milk for the cream, but you can work with low fat milk as well. Add the saffron (add as you like), but keep in mind that the milk and cauliflower has to become yellow.
Roast the almonds in a baking pan, use almond parts or pieces. If the almonds get a bit of colour turn off the heat and take the almonds out of the pan. Light roast is better for this dish.
Season the scallops a little. Note that the ham is salty so do not use too much salt. Do not use too much pepper either. Wrap the sea fruit with the ham.
When the cauliflower is done the milk and cauliflower are yellow. Drain half of the milk into a separate bowl. Better to drain too much then too little as a cream has to be made. When the cream is too wet it’s more difficult to get it more firm.
Blend the cauliflower with the in the pan left over milk with the blender. When it’s too dry add more of the milk. The substance has to be creamy.
Melt the butter in a baking pan and when the butter is warm bake the scallops 2-3 minutes per side. I move them a little in the pan.
When the scallops are done make up the plate. Break the roasted crispy ham in small pieces. Add the seaweed and top off with the almonds.
In this example I wrapped one of the scallops with prosciutto di parma, and had two scallops without the ham, I preferred the one with the ham because of the taste.
As wine we had a Rully (Bourgogne).
