King Scallops, Crispy Bacon, Pea & Elderflower

Seared Scallops are a truly luxurious thing to eat. They don’t need too much competition from other flavours so in this recipe we are just using the saltiness and crunch of crispy bacon, the wholesome body of peas and the unusual sweet floral flavour of elderflower
We think of the Elderflower season as a chance to make cordials, jellies and desserts but actually the fragrant blooms are a wonderful enhancement for savoury dishes as well. 

Ingredients For 4

200g Peas
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
A knob of butter and a dash of cream
4 rashers thin Streaky Bacon
16 King Scallops
100ml White Wine
2 Heads Elderflower, individual flowers snipped off with scissors
A few Pearl Onions soaked in Beetroot juice

Method

• Boil a small pan of lightly salted water over a moderate heat. Cook the peas for 3 minutes, drain and refresh under the cold tap.

• Transfer half the peas to a small bowl; add a knob of butter, a little cream, season with pepper, blitz into a puree. Keep both the puree and the whole peas warm ready to serve with the scallops

• Whilst the peas are cooking, place a ribbed frying pan over a moderate to high heat. Cook the bacon rashers in the pan until crispy, lift off onto kitchen paper, snip into pieces ready to serve.

• Keep the pan over the heat with the fat from the bacon still on it. Season the scallops with salt and pepper, sear them for just 1 minute on each side. Add the wine and half the elderflowers to the hot pan-  (it will sizzle), lift the scallops out onto a warm plate, let the juices bubble and quickly reduce by half.

• Arrange the scallops and bacon on individual plates. Spoon a few dollops of the Pea puree alongside , scatter whole peas,  decorate with pearl onions and the remaining elderflowers.

• Serve the reduced juices separately or spoon over at the very last minute.