Scallops with Smoked White Bean Puree and Glazed Carrots

Another excuse to use the Smoking Gun… 🙂 This is a recipe I found on the Masterchef Australia website.

The combination of the smoked mashed beans with the scallops and white wine sauce and the pistachio/green peppercorn crumb just seemed great. They were, again the smoke added a great flavor to the bean mash, and it is brilliant as a vegetable side dish on its own.

As the Masterchef Australia site seems to be geoblocking Europe, you will now find below the recipe as I made it.

What I changed: as preparing and steaming of the sugar snaps was considered a bit too much happening at the same time, so I opted for a batch of made ahead sous vide carrots that only needed to be pan-glazed for a couple of minutes.

Recipe accuracy / suggested tweaks:
The recipe was easy to follow. Not all steps had their timing indicated, so with all the reductions and passing through sieves, it took quite some time overall to make this dish.

Verdict: 8/10; nice flavors, so worth making again if you have some time on your hands.

The recipe (serves 4)

The ingredients

Smoked White Bean Puree:

• 400g / 14oz can butter or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 30g / 2 tbsp butter
• 1 shallot, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 125ml / ½ cup white wine
• 125 ml / ½ cup heavy cream
• Hickory smoke chips

Pistachio / Peppercorn crumb:

• 2 tbsp pistachio nuts, shelled
• 1 tsp green peppercorns, drained and rinsed

White Wine Cream Reduction:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 125 ml / ½ cup white wine
• 125 ml / ½ cup fish / vegetable stock
• 3 tbsp cream

Scallops:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 12 scallops
• sugar snap peas, steamed, to serve

Instructions

1. For the smoked white bean puree, place the butter in a saucepan and set over medium heat. Once melted, add the shallot and garlic and cook until softened. Add the beans and cook for a further minute. Then add the white wine, season and allow to cook until reduced and the wine is just coating the beans. Remove from heat.
2. Using the hickory chips in a Smoking Gun, add smoke to the saucepan, cover, and allow to stand until the flavors are infused, about 10 minutes.
3. Transfer to a food processor and process until smooth, slowly adding cream (it may be too runny if you include everything, so be careful here!). Pass through a fine sieve and set aside.
4. To make the crumb, place the pistachio nuts and peppercorns in a dry frying pan and set over medium heat to dry out peppercorns and toast the nuts. Transfer to a food processor and process to a medium crumb. Set aside.
5. For the sauce, place butter in a saucepan and set over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the wine and cook for a minute before including the stock, and allow to simmer until reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Then add the cream and stir to combine. Remove from heat, strain through a fine sieve, season and set aside.
6. Place the olive oil in a frying pan and set over high heat. Add the scallops and cook until caramelized on the outside and just cooked on the inside, about 40 seconds per side.
7. Serve the scallops with the bean puree, white wine sauce, pistachio crumb and steamed sugar snap peas on the side.