Recipe from Executive Chef Nate Catto of The Beach Club Resort
We always try to highlight local and seasonal ingredients, and for this dish, we wanted to showcase local pine mushrooms, samphire and kombu kelp. We use the kelp to make a savory umami-filled carrot puree, we lightly grill the pine mushrooms to highlight their earthy flavor, and we simply blanch the samphire to keep it fresh and crisp (and remove a bit of the salt).
Kelp: We get our kelp from Canadian Kelp Resources in Bamfield. They have some great retail options as well. For the dashi broth that goes into the puree, we use kombu, which is used in many traditional Japanese dishes. It provides umami and salt.
Pine mushrooms: We are so fortunate that pine mushrooms, aka matsutake, grow abundantly in the Pacific Northwest. They typically appear in late fall (October–December). They have a woodsy pungent aroma with an earthy and (you guessed it!) pine flavour. We have a few foragers that sell us pine mushrooms and it is always a nice treat that features in many dishes in our autumn menus.
Samphire: Another local treasure that you can easily find yourself is samphire, aka sea asparagus. Its crisp, salty herbal flavour is a great compliment to many dishes. It grows all year round, but is probably at it’s best in late summer/early fall.
Instructions
Dashi
4 cups water
½ cup (5g) bonito flakes
one piece kombu, about 5cm x 5cm (5g)
Add kombu and water to a pot and place on medium heat. Remove kombu from water just before it reaches a full boil. Add bonito and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 seconds, then shut off. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes, then strain. We reserve the leftover bonito and kombu for other uses, usually furikake seasoning. We purposefully make this dashi quite light so as not to overpower our puree. Normal dashi has a ratio of twice as much bonito and kombu. Leftover dashi is great to use as a stock for soups, poaching fish, cooking vegetables, etc.!
Dashi Carrot Puree
1 cup carrots
½ cup (125g) dashi
Peel and roughly chop carrots into manageable sized pieces, the size of your thumb or so. Toss in a small amount of a neutral oil like canola, season with salt and pepper, and roast in a 425° F oven until tender and nicely browned. Puree in a blender with dashi, season with salt to taste, then pass through a fine strainer.
Pine Mushrooms
½ cup or so of pine mushrooms
Carefully clean mushroom with a brush and/or paring knife. If it’s really dirty and requires water to clean, try to keep the gills and cap dry. Slice into strips about a ¼-inch to ½-inch thick and toss with a small amount of a neutral oil like canola, season with salt and pepper and grill on a hot grill (charcoal tastes best!) until nicely browned. This could happen very quickly if your grill is hot enough so be careful.
Samphire
5-6 pieces (20g) samphire
Bring UNSALTED water to a boil and blanch samphire for 1.5–2 minutes. Shock in ice water to stop the cooking process.
Scallops
Look for fresh dry Canadian large scallops, sized 10/20 or larger if you can! 10/20 means there is between 10–20 scallops per pound. We serve three pieces on our appetizer portion, but feel free to use as many or as few as you’d like. To clean, remove the small fibrous pieces of tissue from the side of the scallop. Pat scallops dry with paper towel, and season with salt. Cook in a little canola oil in a hot pan until nicely browned, about 1–2 minutes per size. Scallops should be served rare but you can cook them to your desired doneness—just don’t overcook them or they will be tough!
Yuzu Kosho (optional)
We garnish with a small amount of yuzu kosho, which is a Japanese condiment made with chilis and citrus. You could easily substitute some fresh lemon and jalapeño as a garnish!
Assembly
Prepare all components as described above. Leave the scallops until the very end when you are ready to plate. Everything else can be done ahead of time. Allow scallops to rest for a minute before you put them on the plate. Start with puree on the bottom, then arrange the scallops, mushrooms and samphire as desired. Enjoy!
