The must-have dish at my local Japanese Restaurant, Yokozuma on Oxford Street, is the scallops grilled in mayonnaise. It is reminiscent of a Mornay but oh so much better! The Japanese rival the Dutch for the world’s best mayonnaise, but they win hands down for seafood. This dish is a showcase of two of the best things in Japanese cuisine.
I decided a while back to recreate this at home, and I have since used Emeril Lagasse’s spicy Hot Mayonnaise Glazed Scallops quite a few times. I have cut down on the hot sauce however, because as great as the mayo is, it really did detract from the sweetness of the scallops – I might as well have had it on chicken, or for that matter just had a spoonful of the mayonnaise! Wasting scallops may not be a felony crime, but I do consider it to be a misdemeanour at least.
I’m currently finishing a Whole30 experiment and have not been able to find any compliant hot sauce. Thus I decided to go back to the drawing board. After much consideration (and an assessment of what I had lurking in the fridge as it was rather wet outside), I decided that I would quite like to add some texture to the mayonnaise, so I added some very finely diced celery. To add extra but complimentary flavour I used my favourite herb – coriander.
Using this method of grilling scallops in mayonnaise, I believe you could certainly play around with a lot of different flavour combinations. I’m tempted to try grilling some lobster this way too, once the budget allows.
Ingredients
(serves one)
- 60 mls of mayonnaise
- 1 Tbs (20 mls) of finely diced celery
- 1 Tbs (20mls) of finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
- Black pepper to season
- Lemon juice (optional)*
- 6 scallops loose in shell**
- 1 spring onion finely sliced
Method
1. Heat oven to 200C.
2. Combine all ingredients except for the scallops in a bowl.
3. Spread scallop shells evenly across a baking sheet.
4. Spoon approximately 2 teaspoons of mayonnaise onto each scallop to cover.
5. Bake for 10 minutes at the top of the oven or until mayonnaise is a luminescent golden brown.
6. Sprinkle spring onions over the cooked scallops and serve.
Tips:
- *Additional lemon is only required if your mayonnaise does not already use lemon
- **You may use scallops with roe on however you should increase the mayonnaise mix by 50%
- If entertaining for guests, double the amount of mayonnaise used for an even more luxurious experience
- Serve with Lemon Pepper Sugar Snaps
