Nigel Slater’s kitchen diary: grilled scallops, coriander and lemon sauce

The scallops, plump and glistening on the crushed ice, were irresistible. There are few quicker suppers to cook, the pale cushions of seafood ready to eat after a minute or two on or under a hot grill, flashed in a pan on the hob or cooked over a barbecue. I can’t be doing with the traditional recipes that smother them in mornay sauce and mashed potato, preferring an accompaniment that is light and piquant, something that flatters their natural sweetness. This time I made a green sauce with coriander and mint and gave it a snap of salty acidity with a little preserved lemon. If you don’t like coriander, I suggest using parsley for a very different but equally verdant version. The piquancy flatters the sweet flesh of the scallop.

It is the start of salad season, and at this point there are the early, sweet leaves of both dandelions and nettles up for grabs: the nettles for soup, the dandelions for salad.

I would mix the nettles with spinach, choosing only the top, tender stems and leaves and making sure to pick them using rubber gloves. Remove the sting by blanching the leaves for a minute or so in boiling water. Drain them, then run a little cold water through them – it will help them stay bright, like spinach – then stir them into softened onion and garlic before adding spinach leaves and stock. After a brief simmer, about 10 minutes, then blitzed with a blender, the soup can then be spiked with lemon juice or thickened with a little cream or buttermilk.

The dandelion leaves worth picking are the young ones, barely bigger than a little finger; they turn bitter with age. Pick them from the centre of the crown, avoiding any large or exceptionally dark leaves. Dress them with streaky bacon, cut into snippets and fried until crisp. Deglaze the pan with white wine vinegar, and use this and a splash of olive oil to dress the leaves. They have a mild bitterness, and I like them best tossed with sweet early-summer leaves, including butterhead, cos or oak leaf lettuce, and cucumber. A bowl of green leaves like this would make a suitable accompaniment for the grilled scallops.

It is rare to find bananas in this house. I like the nostalgia that goes with seeing them fall, in thick, pale coins, into a bowl of custard, and I like them in a cake, especially with chocolate chips, but I cannot remember the last time I ate a banana straight from its skin. I find them cloying.

They are, though, a pleasingly sweet alternative to slices of apple in a thin, crisp tart. I add a gloss with maple syrup, letting the tarts bake until the edges start to singe in the heat. Puff pastry is best for this – it is at one with the softness of the fruit – though I have made it with a sweet shortcrust. Sticky and still scorching hot from the oven, they are worth getting the vanilla ice-cream out for.

Grilled scallops, coriander and lemon sauce

Serves 2-4. Ready in 15 minutes

It is all too easy to overcook a scallop. They benefit from being cooked on a very hot griddle and being pressed down with a palette knife or heavy weight during cooking. I get the pan searingly hot, add the lightly oiled and seasoned scallops, then press them firmly so they colour quickly. A quick turn and they are done. Preserved lemon adds a salty depth, while the fresh lemon juice makes the finished sauce sing. Tweak the seasoning as you wish, adding a little more Aleppo pepper or lemon juice as you wish. Use it with scallops but also grilled mackerel, sea bass or prawns.

coriander (leaves and stems) 25g
mint leaves 10g
preserved lemons 50g
lemon juice 1 tbsp
Aleppo pepper a pinch
olive oil 110ml
water 80ml
large scallops 8
olive oil 2 tbsp

Roughly chop the coriander leaves and stems and put them in a blender jug with the mint leaves. Scoop out the slushy centres of the preserved lemons with a spoon and discard. Roughly chop the lemon shells and add them to the blender.

Squeeze in the fresh lemon juice, sprinkle in the Aleppo pepper and pour in 80ml of olive oil and water. Process to a thick, green dressing. Taste the seasoning. Add a little more salt, if you wish, or the tiniest pinch of sugar.

Get a griddle or grill hot. Brush the scallops with olive oil, dust with a grinding of black pepper, then place them on the hot griddle. Press the scallops down with a palette knife or chef’s press so they singe on the bars of the grill, cooking them over a high heat for 2-3 minutes until they have coloured lightly. Turn them over and continue cooking for a minute or two.

Place spoonfuls of the sauce on to plates, shallow dishes or scallop shells, then divide the scallops among them.