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Asparagus, Snow Pea and Scallop Salad
The asparagus and snow peas can be cooked up to 2 hours before you want to eat, and the scallops can be seared up to half an hour ahead of serving. The Citrus Chilli Dressing can be made up to a week ahead of time and stored in a jar in the fridge until needed. This salad makes a few scallops go a long way, but you can replace them with seared prawns or 6 rashers of bacon that have been cooked until crisp and then crumbled. If it’s not asparagus season simply double the amount of snow peas.
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
3 mins
Serves
6
Salads & Sides
Seafood
Special Occasions
Ingredients
SALAD
24 spears fresh asparagus, tough ends snapped off and discarded
three handfuls of snow peas, trimmed of stringy bits
3 handfuls of rocket
flesh of 1 large just-ripe avocado, cut into chunks
24 fresh scallops , (or more as extravagance allows)
finely grated zest of 1/2 a lemon, or lime
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of sugar
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
CITRUS CHILLI DRESSING
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 small red chilli, seeds removed and flesh very finely diced
freshly ground black pepper
Method
CITRUS CHILLI DRESSING
Place all ingredients in a large jar and shake to blend together.
Chill until ready to serve.
The dressing will keep in a jar in the fridge for up to a week. Makes ½ cup.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Lightly salt the water then drop in the trimmed asparagus and return to the boil for 3 minutes.
Add the snow peas to the pot for the final 20 seconds of the cooking time. Do not overcook.
Drain then immediately cover the vegetables with cold water. This stops the cooking process and helps capture their vivid green colour and crunchiness.
Drain the vegetables thoroughly and place on a serving platter.
Place avocado chunks on top.
Mix the scallops with the lemon or lime zest and season with salt, pepper and sugar (the sugar helps the scallops caramelise without overcooking).
Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan until it is very hot and cook the scallops for about 30-50 seconds on each side – they should be browned but still soft.
Don’t overcook the scallops and don’t overcrowd the frying pan – you may need to sear them in two batches.
Pile scallops on top of salad, drizzle with ¼ cup Citrus Dressing and toss.
Divide between 6 serving plates and serve at once.
