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Roasted Scallops, Wasabi Sauce, Fregola, Sea Vegetables

Scallops with wasabi is a striking combination, perfectly balanced here, served with some delicate sea vegetables.

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Why it works: Wasabi and scallop work together. They rank in the top 41% of all ingredient pairs. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Finely chop the banana shallots and button mushrooms. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the shallots with a pinch of salt and cook for 3 minutes until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook for 4 more minutes.

  2. Add the dry vermouth and white wine and simmer until reduced by about two-thirds, about 10 minutes. Bruise the lemongrass sticks, add them with the milk, and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Strain the liquid into a clean pan.

  3. Whisk the wasabi and lemon juice into the strained liquid. Sprinkle in the xanthan gum or arrowroot and whisk until smooth and lightly thickened. Season with salt and keep warm over very low heat.

  4. Cook the fregola in a pan of boiling salted water for about 10 minutes until tender, then drain. Toss it with 50ml olive oil and the finely grated zest of the 2 lemons.

  5. Finely chop the flatleaf parsley, chives and chervil, then stir them into the fregola. Keep covered so it stays warm.

  6. Blanch the monk's beard and sea beet in boiling water for 1 minute, then refresh in cold water and drain. Rinse the sea fennel and fresh dulse. Soak the dried dulse in water for 5 minutes, then drain and chop all the seaweed finely.

  7. Pat the 4 scallops and 12 scallops dry and season them with salt. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in an ovenproof skillet over high heat and sear the scallops for 1 to 2 minutes per side until golden.

  8. Transfer the skillet to a 400°F (200°C) oven and roast for 2 to 3 minutes until the scallops are opaque and flake easily, or reach 145°F (63°C) inside. Serve on the fregola with the sea vegetables, wasabi sauce and lemon wedges cut from the 1 lemon.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Wasabi + scalloptop 41% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together0 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  2. Mushroom + white winetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,704 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  3. Shallot + mushroomtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,960 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Olive + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Banana + white winetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together71 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, shallot, mushroom, vermouth, white wine, milk, wasabi):

  1. Lemonbetter flavor fit
  2. Cherrybetter flavor fit
  3. Avocadobetter flavor fit
  4. Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, shallot, mushroom, vermouth, white wine, milk, wasabi. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).