Rye is a picturesque old seaport close to Hastings on the East Sussex coast in England, near to where William of Normandy came ashore and made his mark in history books back in 1066. The medieval town is known for its annual Rye Bay Scallops festival – a ‘must’ for many dedicated foodies. Local photographer and seafood lover, John Fewster, gives us his simple recipe for succulent scallops with prawns and bacon.
Ingredients:
10 good sized fresh scallops
4 large fresh whole raw prawns
3 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
Olive oil
Fresh basil leaves
Black peppercorns
1 Lemon
Preparation:
Cut the bacon into small lardons.
Rinse the raw prawns and pat dry with kitchen roll.
If you use fresh scallops they should not need to be washed. If you feel that you need to rinse them, do so swiftly and just before preparation – tap water is not good for scallops.
Cut each scallop in half across the grain so that you have round medallions, try to leave the orange coral (roe) attached to one half.
Pat dry if necessary with kitchen roll, lay out on a board and sprinkle with coarsely ground or crushed black peppercorns.
The next step:
1 Heat a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in a large, heavy pan The pan needs to be big enough to take all the scallop medallions laying flat, without overlapping (if you have only a small pan it is best to cook the scallops in batches).
2 Fry the bacon lardons. As soon as the lardons begin to brown, add the raw prawns. 3 Cook the prawns for about minute on each side on a moderate heat.They will turn from grey to an rosy pink, toss them as necessary. Remove from the pan as soon as evenly cooked and place on the serving plate. By this time the lardons should be browning.
4 Turn up the heat in the pan so that the remaining fat and the lardons begin to sizzle. Evenly disperse the lardons in the pan and swiftly place in the scallops. Depending on the heat holding property of your pan, halved scallops take between 30 seconds and one minute each side to cook. If scallops are overcooked they become tough.
5 Remove pan from heat and arrange scallops on the serving plate, sprinkling over any loose lardons, which should by now be crispy brown.
6 Arrange the scallops, prawns and lemon quarters and garnish with basil leaves.
7 Serve with warm bread and lashings of butter, along with a decent dry white wine or, if you prefer a beer, a Guinness or Hoegaarten Blonde.
Find more about the Rye festival (and make reservations).
To make the best of the the event why not make it part of a fantastic self-drive adventure around Kent and Sussex – with lots of foodie tips.