Ingredients
- 125g streaky bacon in one piece, cut into chunky lardons
- 18 fresh, fat scallops, cleaned, roes intact
- 2tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Good squeeze of lemon juice
- 2tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- For the artichoke puree:
- 500g Jerusalem artichoke
- Good squeeze of lemon juice
- 150ml double cream
- Salt and white pepper
- 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- A little light chicken stock or water
1 Scrub the artichokes really well and rinse under running water. Slice them and cover with water. Add a good squeeze of lemon juice (this stops them discolouring) and bring to the boil. Simmer until tender.
2 Drain the artichokes and put them back in the pan. Add the cream. Heat, season with salt and pepper, then puree in a blender, adding the olive oil as you go. You may find you need to add a little stock or water as well, but remember that you are not making soup. Once the mixture has cooled, you can keep it in the fridge and gently reheat it later.
3 Cook the scallops and bacon just before serving. In a frying pan, cook the bacon in its own fat, which runs as it is heated. Remove the bacon, leaving the fat in the pan.
4 Season the scallops with salt and pepper, then quickly sear them on each side for about 20 seconds in the reserved bacon fat. How long they need will depend on the thickness of the scallops; you want them to be just cooked through.
5 Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the scallops in the pan, add the parsley, and divide them between the plates, on a pool of artichoke puree, pouring a drizzle of the hot pan juices on top of each helping. Scatter with the hot bacon.
