¾ cup (90gm) sea salt flakes
6 large scallops
Grey salt (see note)
⅛ tsp yuzu kosho (nee note)
2 tsp Arbequina olive oil
(see note)
¼ tsp mandarin extra-virgin
olive oil (see note)
Basil buds (if you can find
them) or basil leaves
1 lemon, for zesting
2 firm green tomatoes, very
thinly sliced into rounds
Chardonnay vinegar
(optional)
PICKLED THAI CHILLIES
115 gm Thai scud chillies
(see note)
600 ml white vinegar
50 gm sugar1 For pickled chillies, rinse
chillies and put them in a
heatproof container. Combine
vinegar and sugar in a saucepan
with 540ml water and ½ tsp sea
salt flakes, and bring to the boil,
stirring to dissolve sugar. Pour
liquid over chillies and leave tocool, then refrigerate. Pickled
chillies can be refrigerated for
up to 3 months.
2 Add sea salt flakes to 1 litre
water in a small non-reactive
container (see cook’s notes
p152), stirring to dissolve salt.
Add scallops and refrigerate
for 20 minutes to brine.
3 Drain scallops and pat dry
with paper towels. Put them on
a plate lined with paper towel
and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
4 Lay scallops on a flat side
and thinly slice about 6mm-thick
in one smooth movement
starting at the heel of a very
sharp knife. You should get
5 or 6 slices per scallop.
5 Arrange scallop slices on
a large plate or baking tray and
sprinkle lightly with grey salt.
Smear a tiny amount of yuzu
kosho onto each slice.
6 To serve, drizzle a little of the
Thai chilli pickling liquid, olive
oil and mandarin olive oil over
serving plates. Arrange scallop
slices on top in a circular shape,Raw scallops with green
tomatoes and basil
SERVES 4“In a funny way, this both looks and eats like a bright, oceanic
Caprese salad,” says Mattos. “Is it better? That’s up to you,
but I happen to think so. There’s an unidentifiable source of
heat that comes along toward the end of a mouthful. It’s the
magical liquid that results from the pickled chilli recipe.”overlapping. If you have them,
break up basil buds and scatter
over each serving, or tear basil
leaves into tiny pieces and
scatter over scallops. Grate
4 or 5 rasps of lemon zest over
and finish with tomato slices,
overlapping them to cover
scallops completely. If the
tomatoes aren’t very acidic,
dress them with a little vinegar
to serve.
NoteGrey salt, also known
as sel gris or Celtic sea salt,
is available from select health-
food shops. Yuzu kosho is a
bold, aromatic paste made by
fermenting chillies with salt
and the juice and zest of
yuzu. It’s available from Asian
supermarkets. Arbequina olive
oil is from Spain and has a fruity
flavour; find your local stockist
at nomadistribution.com.au.
To find a distributor of Alto
mandarin extra-virgin olive
oil visit alto-olives.com.au.
Scud chillies are available
from Thai grocers.This extract fromEstelaby
Ignacio Mattos with
photography by Marcus
Nilsson (Hardie Grant Books,
hbk, $75) has been
reproduced with minor
GT style changes.112 GOURMET TRAVELLER