Seared scallops with pea basil puree

On Instagram I found a photo of a very nice looking dish. Wanted to make this myself and started experimenting a bit. This resulted in a delicious festive dish. Nice for the holidays or as a start to a good / cozy meal.

Ingredients (2 persons)

4-6 scallops
150 gr. peas
1 bunch of basil
75 gr. creme fraiche
2 cloves garlic
1 shallot
Parsley
dill
Olive oil
2 slices of prosciutto
Possibly lime juice

Preparation

Peel and shred the garlic and shallot. If you use fresh peas, cap them. I myself use frozen peas for this dish as they are pulverized.

Fry the garlic with the shallot and peas in a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil. Stir well. Do not brown the shallot and garlic, they should remain translucent.

Put the fried peas, garlic and shallot in a blender and puree them.

Add the basil, creme fraiche and a little parsley to the mashed peas. Blend this into a smooth consistency. Add pepper / salt to taste if necessary. A little lime juice is also possible.

Then pass the puree through a very fine sieve. Keep the sieved puree cold. Take it out of the fridge 1 hour before serving.

Heat the oven to 170 °C. Fry the prosciutto in a frying pan without oil. Make sure the prosciutto turns brown and not burnt. When the prosciutto is fairly crispy, it is placed in the oven to get extra crunchy. Keep an eye on this. After about 10 minutes (can be shorter or longer depending on the time in the frying pan) remove the prosciutto from the oven and let it cool down.

Crush the very crispy bacon and set it aside.

Serve

Place the scallops on kitchen paper and pat dry carefully. Sprinkle the scallops with a little salt and pepper and brown them over high heat in butter. Sear the scallops for 1.5 – 2 minutes per side. In this way, the inside remains slightly raw.

Heat the basil-pea puree slightly. This can be lukewarm. This is not necessary, it can be served cold.

Pour the basil-pea puree on a plate and place the fried scallops on top. Sprinkle the crushed prosciutto over the plate and sprinkle finely chopped dill over the purée and scallops.