Lisa Faulkner’s Seared Scallops On Crab Cakes

Hotpoint and Celebrity MasterChef 2010 winner Lisa Faulkner have teamed up to launch their Campaign for Cooking Confidence along with a whole panel of experts. Its aim: to equip consumers with the culinary skills needed to give them more confidence in the kitchen and be adventurous with ingredient and meal choices.

Lisa says: “Before Masterchef, I never spent much time in the kitchen and when I did it was always to make something quick and easy to fit around my hectic lifestyle. I always thought trying new recipes would involve lots of extra time, work and pressure –all things that I could do without.

“I now love to cook every day and try things I’ve never tried before – creating a lovely meal needn’t be daunting, or time consuming. That’s why I’ve teamed up with Hotpoint, to get people cooking with confidence. I really want other people to gain more confidence and feel that they can do it too.” Lisa said.

“I think there is such a lack of confidence in the kitchen because people want to stay in their comfort zones. They want to cook what they know and know what they cook. I think that they are scared to experiment with tastes and what flavours go together.”

Here is the fabulous recipe for the seared scallops and crab cakes they are making in the clip below.

Seared Scallops with spicy crab cakes and a hot & sweet syrup

Serves 4  – preparation time 30 minutes, 30 minutes resting time, 15 minutes cooking time – combined

INGREDIENTS
12 large king scallops (roe off) –3 per person
100g white crab meat
500g potatoes
2cm piece of fresh ginger peeled
1 clove of garlic – peeled
1 tablespoon each of finely chopped fresh  – coriander, mint, basil
1 red chill  – deseeded
2 eggs whites
Zest of 1 lime
150g fresh bread crumbs
75g butter
4 tablespoons of olive oil.
Salt & ground black pepper – to season to taste

METHOD
Crab cakes
1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Peel potatoes and cut into even pieces. Place in the boiling water and cook until soft ( approximately 10/12 minutes, test with a sharp knife, if goes through easily, they are ready)
2. Drain potatoes in a colander, place in a large bowl and roughly mash.
3. Finely chop the fresh ginger, red chill and the garlic clove and add into the mashed potatoes. Also add the finely chopped fresh coriander, mint & basil, zest of the lime, a pinch of salt and ground black pepper and finally add the crab meat. Mix together by hand.
4. Whisk the egg whites until fluffy and fold into the mix, this adds moisture and helps to bind the mix.
5. On a work surface, roll out a length of cling film,  place the mixture in the centre and roll into a sausage shape. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes. This gives time for the ingredients to bind, so they hold together during the cooking process.
6. After 30 minutes take out of the fridge, unwrap the cling and slice into about 2cm thick disks and lightly coat with breadcrumbs.
7. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, add 2 table spoons of olive oil ,cook the crab cakes for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Scallops:
1.       Pat the scallops dry with kitchen paper
2.       Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a non stick frying pan, add 75g of butter and stir until foaming.
3.       Add the scallops to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning once until lightly golden on both sides and tender to touch.

Hot & Sweet syrup

INGREDIENTS
250mls white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic peeled
2 cm piece of fresh ginger peeled
1 red chilli
Zest of 1 lime

METHOD
1.Roughly chop the garlic, ginger and chilli.
2. Put all ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil for 8-10 minutes until slightly sticky.
3. Put in a liquidizer and blend.
4. Strain.
The sauce can be made in advance ready to serve once crab cakes and scallops are cooked.

To serve:
Place the cooked scallops on the 2 crab cakes and drizzle over the sauce, garnish with flat leaf parsley.

For more information and recipes visit Hotpoint