Funny enough, this dish is actually inspired by a bad dish I had at a fine dining restaurant at a winery a while ago. It was the perfect setting, the description had everything going for it, scallop, kohlrabi for the freshness, roe sauce as a creamy element, tick tick tick. Except it failed miserably at execution. The scallop was for some reason blended into a mousse, and so overcooked from steaming that it had an unpleasant grainy texture. I remember thinking the entire time whilst I was eating what I would do differently to improve the dish. So this is my take of scallops and kohlrabi. Scallops were marinated and then torched to keep the freshness of the sweet scallop with a smoky finish, labneh as the creamy element elevated with aromatic lemon myrtle and lemon zest, crunch and texture from the lightly pickled kohlrabi tied together by a delicious verjus foam. It was perfect just the way I had imagined it in my head, happy days.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Torched Scallops
- 6 large scallops
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 tbsp kombu dashi
- 1/2 tbsp light soya sauce
- oil
Pickled Kohlrabi
- 1/2 kohlrabi finely sliced using a mandolin
- 1/2 cup verjus
Lemon Myrtle Labneh
- 4 tbsp labneh
- 2/3 tsp lemon myrtle
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- salt
Verjus Foam
- 1/2 cup verjus*
- 1g soy lecithin
- salt
Garnish
- fresh dill
* I re-used some of the verjus from pickling the kohlrabi and added more to get 1/2 cup.
Method
1. Add the scallops, sake, kombu dashi, light soya sauce in a bowl. Coat the scallops well and let it sit and marinade for 30 minutes.
2. Combine the verjus with thinly sliced kohlrabi into a bowl, ensure it's well coated by the verjus. Let it sit and marinade for 30 minutes.
3. Combine the labneh with lemon myrtle, lemon zest, mix well and season to taste with salt.
4. Once the scallops are ready, take it out of the marinade and dry with paper towel. Coat it well with olive oil and cook with blow torch on all sides until it's lightly charred.
5. Drain the verjus from the kohlrabi pickle into a measuring cup and top up with more verjus to make up 1/2 cup. Add soy lecithin and season to taste with salt. Use a stick blender to form a foam.
6. Assemble by spooning the labneh in the middle of a bowl. Top with torched scallops, fold the kohlrabi and place it between the scallops. Garnish with dill and finish with verjus foam. Enjoy!
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