Scallops & Chorizo Bites

These little bites are not dissimilar to the dish of black pudding and scallops which has becomes a new classic.  I came across these wild scallops and couldn’t resist doing something.  I have a soft spot for chorizo, if I’m at home one of the dishes I make for lunch is a salad toped with chorizo and egg.  I don’t need any excuse to eat chorizo, especially when it’s like this, sliced, fried until the outside fat starts to sizzle.  My idea with this combination was the meatiness, saltiness and slight spiciness of the sausage would act a good partner to the sweet, soft scallops making them taste even sweeter.  And it does, chewing on the gutsy salty chorizo brings out the natural sweetness of the shellfish.

1 chorizo sausage – you’ll only need to use some of it
8 scallops

If you can with a end of a knife strip back and discard the very thin skin of the chorizo and slice the sausage thinly, if it’s too thick it will be too chewy.  Heat a frying pan, when hot add the sausage slices and on a medium heat fry them until they start to sizzle and exude a little fat, don’t cook them too high or they’ll burn, between 1-2 mins.  Turn them over and repeat again, by the time you finish cooking the second side you should have chorizo fat in the frying pan.  Remove the chorizo and placed them on a warm plate.

In the same pan cook the scallops in the leftover chorizo fat.  Once you have put scallops down in the pan don’t move them until they’re ready to turn over or else you won’t get the seared brown marks.  Depending on the size of the scallops they’ll take between 1-2 mins, turn them over and cook the other side.  Scallops are best still undercooked in the middle, they’ll have a softer texture.

When the scallops are ready place them on top of the chorizo and serve straight away.  Eat as you wish but I like to eat the sausage firs followed by the scallop, the flavour left over in your mouth from the chorizo when followed by the scallops brings out the very sweetness of it.