Seared Scallops

Recipe from The American Club.

Ingredients:

• 12 large scallops
• Sesame oil
• Salt and pepper
• Arugula or watercress
• ½ cup crème fraîche

For the Sweet Chili Sauce:

• 10 cloves garlic, peeled
• 4 large red chilies, stems removed
• 3 thumbs fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• Zest of 2 limes
• 3 lemon grass stems; remove the two outside leaves, discard the top third of the stem and finely slice the remainder
• 1 cup fresh coriander leaves
• 1 ½ cups fine sugar
• 5 fluid ounces cider vinegar
• 3 ½ fluid ounces Asian fish sauce
• 1 ¾ fluid ounces tamari

Directions:

Put the first six ingredients of the chili sauce in a food processor and purée to a coarse paste. Put the sugar in a saucepan with 4 tablespoons of water and place on a moderate heat, stirring well until the sugar dissolves. When it has, remove the spoon and turn the heat up to full. Boil for 5-8 minutes and do not stir until it has turned a dark caramel color (but don’t allow it to burn). Now stir in the paste, bring the sauce back to the boil and add the last three ingredients. Return to the boil and simmer for 1 minute. Leave it to cool before eating.

Lightly oil the pan with sesame oil and season, then sear each side on a char-grill or skillet for 90 seconds. Place them on a bed of watercress, put a dollop of crème fraîche on top and drizzle generously with sweet chili sauce.

Makes 4 servings.