Scallops with Spring Onion Purée and Black Truffles

July 29, 2013

The following recipe is a guest post from one of our wonderful guest bloggers, Anna Savino. Anna is a Californian expat living in Piemonte, Italy. She works as a travel planner, English teacher and collaborates with a well known Barolo producer. For more fun stories about Piemontese life we recommend you follow her blog. Enjoy!

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Even after 8 years of living in Piemonte Italy, I am still surprised by exhilarating new food and wine experiences daily. At our friend's wedding this Saturday, we started talking to the father of the bride, a truffle hunter in the area. He got so excited telling us about his recent finds, that he left the ceremony to go home and bring us more than 1 kilo of fresh black summer truffles! La dolce vita!

My area is especially known for its prestigious white truffles from Alba but also its black truffles in both winter and summer too. Traditional recipes are typically heartier dishes like tajarin egg pasta with butter and truffles, fried eggs with truffles or raw meat topped with shaved truffles which would obviously be paired with our elegant Barolos. But in this summer heat, I wanted to make something a bit lighter. I found a great recipe from Joyce Goldstein's Antipasti book and got started with a glass of G.D. Vajra N.S. Della Neve Sparkling Rose.

 

Seared Scallops On A Bed Of Spring Onion Purée With Fresh Shaved Black Truffles

• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 10 spring onions (white part only)
• 1 ounce of fresh black truffle chopped
• 2-3 tbs black truffle or black truffle oil to taste
• 18 sea scallops, foot muscle removed
• Fleur de sel
• Minced chives or parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. In a large sauté pan heat 3 tbs of olive oil over low heat. Add onions and sauté for 8 minutes.

2. Add a few tbs of water and continue to cook for about 8-10 minutes longer until onions are nice and soft.

3. Remove from the heat and purée in a blender until smooth. You should have about 2 cups.

4. Stir in the chopped truffle into the purée and keep warm.

5. In a large nonstick sauté pan, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil over high heat.

6. Add the scallops and sauté turning once, until golden on the outside and just opaque at the center for about 4-6 minutes total.

7. Divide the onion purée evenly among warm salad plates, top with scallops and sprinkle the fleur de sel and garnish. Serve warm.

I didn't quite follow the recipe as I used only 6 large scallops and still used about an ounce of fresh truffle. I didn't add any additional oils or paste but just added some salt to the purée. It was an easy and impressive Italian appetizer recipe. I also whipped up a flatbread pizza with swiss cheese, grated pecorino, salt, pepper and of course truffles!

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