Dine & Wine - Chris Rees

Chris Rees, Head Chef at the River Room Restaurant at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort, serves a civiche of scallops with green olives, radish and a squid ink cracker.

Dine & Wine

Serves four

This is a quick and easy dish to execute, with only a couple of pre-prepared elements. It is a simple starter from the current River Room restaurant menu and is a nice fresh and alternative way to eat scallops.

Ingredients

• 300g scallop meat (frozen then defrosted) • Juice of 1 lemon • 20g sugar • 20g salt • ½ cucumber • 100g thinly sliced radish • 80g sushi rice • 1 sachet of squid ink • 80g Crème fraiche • Some leaves and cress (dill is ideal) • Olive oil 2tps

Method:

• First make the squid ink cracker. Do this by boiling the rice with a little salt until very soft and almost overcooked. Add the squid ink to the rice and spread on a baking sheet thinly. • Dry the sheet of now black rice at around 50°C for a couple of hours in an oven. Once dry simply break the sheet into shards and deep fry in oil at around 200°C. • Allow to cool and dry on kitchen paper and season more if necessary. • Next, very finely slice and then dice the cucumber and set aside. • Thinly slice the scallops and place in a bowl with the lemon juice sugar and salt. Mix gently and allow to rest in the liquid for around five minutes. Then strain all of the remaining liquid and reserve the scallops, which are now lightly cured and ready to eat. • To assemble the dish mix the scallop meat with the cucumber and olive oil. With a pastry ring placed in the middle of a bowl, add a small spoonful of crème fraiche, then the scallop and cucumber mixture and finally the sliced radish. Season lightly with some sea salt. • To finish, add the squid ink cracker and nicely place the leaves around the top of the dish – the starter is now ready to serve.

Need the perfect pairing?

Drinking good wine with good food is one of life’s great pleasures. The River Room Restaurant’s resident wine expert, Andrea Mola, recommends the perfect wine to accompany Head Chef Chris Rees’ delicious starter.

Wine Pairing: Russbach Classic Riesling 2016 Germany

This is an off dry style, so neither sweet nor dry, but has obvious hints of sweetness just at the end, that will soften the citrus component of Chris’ dish.

It’s great against the backdrop of piercing acidity that the German Rieslings are renowned for. This will cut through the curing of the scallops and clean your palate.

Expect lots of candied lime flavours, fruit salad and floral notes, while the palate is crisp, fresh and lingers deliciously.