Shetland Scallops smoked over Seaweed

The little grey fish van pulled up just as we were about to give up. We had seen a few up in Scrabster; little vans that drive around, you can flag them down and buy fish anywhere you see them. We hadn't found any fish shops and had left a message with a man about some lobster but that was yet to come to fruition.

We've been up in the very North of Scotland for a weeks holiday, just a cottage on a beach, surrounded by sea, big skies, hills and nature.

There were no lobsters and langoustine aboard unfortunately, but plenty of other guys, we ended up with some massive Shetland scallops, a couple of kippers and a wild card of some cod roe. I wasn't sure what to do with it at first, but ended up smoking it by the beach fire and blitzing it into a version of taramasalata that was delicious, considering I guessed how to make it.

I'd read something in Niklas Ekstedt's book about scallops and cucumber steamed over seaweed, so set about making a plan, as when you're staying in a cottage on your own beach that's the kind of wonderful plan you need...

I wandered down and cut some fresh live seaweed from the rocks, you shouldn't use stuff just lying on the beach. I've been reading a bit about seaweeds lately, you can eat all of them in Britain I believe, but some are just disgusting, I plan to dry some out and use it for seasoning. There were a couple of types on the rocks, the one you make nori from and another with bits you can pop, I'm not down with the names just yet. I picked a big serving bowl full.

We built a small fire in amongst some massive rocks, where it would still get plenty of air flow from below, but was a bit sheltered from the winds whistling in off the sea. We got it going using driftwood twigs and dried out seaweed from the beach, topped with some birch logs. Nicklaus always uses birch wood so we followed his advice, he knows what he's doing when it comes to fire, and scallops for that matter...

There are two stages to this; the pan, then the seaweed... So once the fire was pretty strong I put a bit bit of butter into the pan and heated until it sizzled over the fire. I need to invest in some good cast iron numbers for this really. Then add the scallops and cook for roughly two minutes on each side. They will have taken on a lovely golden colour, remove to a warm plate, then add a bit more butter to the pan until melted, stirring up all the scraps of flavour from the bottom of the pan, then remove the pan from the fire.

Now quickly cover the fire with seaweed, all over, you don't want it to go out but conversely you don't want the flames coming through burning the scallops. A nice thick seaweed bed for the scallops to sit on.

I'm not sure whether Nicklaus' version is to steam or smoke these scallops but ours were definitely smoked. I left them on for about 2 minutes on each side, the seaweed began to change colour to a deep green and just as it began to catch fire and flames began to lick through the seaweed we took the scallops off. Season with salt and drizzle with hot butter from the pan.

I loved them, I really hope I get a chance to do this again. They were rich and smoky, but slightly different to a wood smoke taste, more mellow, and you could still taste clearly the sweet soft scallop and the sea. I really loved them, did I say that already... There's something exciting and magical about cooking outside on the fire, it makes everything taste better. We rushed inside to eat just as it started to rain.