Pan-seared scallops, sweetcorn and achiote puree, lime pickled cucumber, torched corn scallop ceviche on a tostada.

Ingredients

• 14 medium-sized scallops, or if you can get your hands on some really big boys- 8 will do
• 1 block of butter
• 1 shallot
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 limes
• 1 cucumber
• 1/4 bunch mint
• 1/4 bunch coriander 
• Maldon sea salt
• 1 pre-cooked vac-packed corn on the cob
• 1 medium tin sweetcorn
• achiote paste (easily got online)
• 150ml veg or chicken stock (or a stock cube and boiling water is also fine)
• 200ml double cream
• 100g masa harina

Directions
First, get your tostada dough ready. If you want to use pre-made soft-shell corn tortillas, this is also absolutely fine, and if so, just skip to the frying part!

If you are going for totally made from scratch, pop your Masa Harina into a bowl, add a pinch of salt, and then pop the kettle on. Slowly add little bits of boiling water until you have a dough that is holding together. Put it onto a smooth, dry surface, with a little Masa Harina to dust, and give it a quick knead—about five minutes. Then, put it back into the bowl and cover it with cling film. Let it rest while you get on with the rest. 

Next, get your puree on the go, as this can sit and be warmed up later.

Put a drizzle of neutral oil into a small saucepan, and roughly chop your shallot and three cloves of garlic. Cook these on low heat to soften with a pinch of salt for about ten minutes.

Add your tin of sweetcorn, 30g of achiote paste and the stock and cook on low heat until the corn has totally softened, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and throw in 25 g of butter.

Wait for the mix to cool before blending—a small or stick blender will work just as well.

Using a spatula, pass the mix through a fine sieve to remove any larger corn shells into a saucepan. Leave to one side until later.

For the cucumber, peel the cucumber lengthwise to create ribbons. When you hit the seedy centre, turn the cucumber around and repeat. Season with the juice of lime, a pinch of salt, and chopped mint and coriander leaves.

Now we want to return to our dough—if you have a tortilla press at home, you know what you're doing. If not, no worries. Roll the dough into small balls about the size of a cherry, then pop them between two pieces of baking parchment and sprinkle with some Masa Harina. Roll it out nice and thin so you have a taco about 10cm wide. If you want a really perfect circle, you can use a cutter to refine it. 

Then get a large frying pan with some sunflower oil over medium heat and pop your tacos in—fry on each side for about until they are nice and crisp but not brown. Drain them on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil and prevent them from going soggy.

For the scallop ceviche, in a bowl, crush 2 cloves garlic, finely dice 1/2 red onion, 1 jalapeno (or 2 if you like it hot), juice of 1 lime, pinch salt, and the stalks of the coriander, finely chopped. Then dice your raw scallop—pop it in, and give it a good stir—it doesn't want to be in the mix for more than 20 minutes, so you can leave adding to scallops until a bit later if you're not quite ready.

Turn your corn on the cobs up on their side, and cut down nice and close to the centre so you get some nice chunky pieces. Get a large frying pan on to heat, and put them in, face down, to get a nice blackened surface, then add in a decent knob of butter and the zest of 1 lime, and a pinch of salt. Gently turn the corn over and baste with the buttery lime mix.

Now, come back to your puree. It's important you don't heat this too quickly, or it might split out, so gently heat and add a touch of cream until you have a lovely, smooth mixture.

Now for the final part- pan frying your gorgeous scallops- now whether or not you keep the roe on is totally up to you- it has a gorgeous flavour but maybe doesn't look quite so refined- or do what I did here and cook them and gobble them up separately and just don't tell your guests!

Get a nice big frying pan, piping hot with a touch of neutral oil. Give your scallops a quick rinse and pat dry, then season with salt. 

Pop them into the pan; if you hold them for a couple of seconds upright, it will help them stay straight for your tostada to rest on. Cook them for about 2 minutes, take a peek and check they have got a gorgeous caramelisation on them. Then flip them over and cook for another 2 minutes. Then turn the heat off, squeeze the juice of a lime and whack a big old knob of butter in.

Using a spoon, baste the scallops and get the buttery limey goodness all over them. Then, pop them on a tray or plate to rest for a few moments while you plate up. 

Put about 1/5 dessert spoon of puree into the middle of a wide bowl with a flat base. Spread it around so you have a nice circle of about 12cm.

Put your three scallops or one extra large scallop in the middle, then place your cucumber ribbons and torched corn around the outside. Put about 2 teaspoons of ceviche mix onto the toastada, dont take too much juice as it will make the toastada soggy. Rest this on top of your scallops, and you can top it with some pretty edible flowers or coriander to finish it off.

• There are two more of Rosie’s Recipes to try in our Extra section!