Sticky Pan-Fried Scallops, Sweet Chili Rice, Dressed Asian-Style Greens and a Quick Brownie

My dinner tonight comes directly from Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes cookbook.

Meals in Minutes is a TV series of Jamie’s that I really enjoyed watching, so for Christmas, Mark found the book with all the step-by-step instructions; check out the recipe to see what I mean...it’s a brilliant approach.

I’ve made some of Jamie’s meals - not in the 30 minutes he miraculously manages, but it is a pretty straight forward process.

You can even watch the episode I'm going to recreate, right here:

Jamie's Meals in Minutes 

Ingredients:

Rice

1 ½ cups basmati rice

A small bunch of scallions (green onions here in Canada!)

3 eggs

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

½ lemon

A small bunch of fresh cilantro

Sweet red chili sauce

Greens

4 baby bok choy

7 oz broccolini

1 bunch asparagus

½ lime

Scallops

1  pound fresh sea scallops

1 lemon

Chinese five-spice

Sesame oil

½ fresh chile

1 clove garlic

Honey

2 pats of butter

A small bunch of cilantro

Seasonings

Olive oil

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and black pepper

Brownies

8 oz dark chocolate

1 cup + 1 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup superfine sugar

1/3 cup unweetened cocoa powder

A handful of crystallized ginger

4 eggs

A handful of pecans

A handful of sour dried cherries

1 clementine

To start:

Get all your ingredients and equipment ready. Fill and boil the kettle. Turn the oven on to 375 and put a shallow Dutch oven-type pan on a medium heat. Put the standard blade attachment onto the food processor.

Rice:

Put the rice into the shallow pan with 2 pinches of salt. Cover with 3 cups of boiled water. Pop a lid on and leave to cook for 7 minutes. Fill and reboil the kettle.

Brownies:

Smash the chocolate and chop the butter into large chunks, then put both into the food processor and add 1 cup of superfine sugar, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, scant ½ cup of self-rising flour, a pinch of salt, and the crystallized ginger. Whiz together. While the processor is running, crack in the eggs. Scrunch up a large piece of parchment paper under a tap. Flatten it , lay it on a sheet pan, and drizzle it with olive oil, then rub in. Use a spatula to spoon and spread the brownie mixture evenly onto the pan, about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle over the pecans and sour cherries and press them down. Finely grate over the zest of the Clementine. Put the pan in the oven on the top shelf and cook for 12-14 minutes.

Scallops:

Lay the scallops on a piece of parchment paper. Score crisscrosses on top, only going halfway through. Srizzle over some olive oil, season with salt and pepper, finely grate over some lemon zest and dust with Chinese five-spice. Drizzle with sesame oil and toss together to coat in the flavours.

Rice:

Trim and thinly slice the scallions and put into a mixing bowl. Crack in eggs, and ad 1 tablespoon each of soy sauce and sesame oil, and a drizzle of olive oil, then whisk. Take the lid off the rice and use a fork to fluff it up. Pour the egg mixture all over. Squeeze in the juice of ½ a lemon and a pinch of pepper. Put the lid back on and turn down to the lowest heat for another 4-5 minutes.

Scallops:

Get a large frying pan on the highest heat.

Greens:

Half fill a large saucepan with the boiled water and put on a medium heat. Half each bok choy lengthways, trim the broccolini and asparagus, then put it in a colander and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Put over the saucepan of water to steam for a few minutes until tender, then take off heat.

Rice:

Thinly slice the leaves and stalks of a small bunch of cilantro and sprinkle over the rice. Drizzle a good lug of sweet red chili sauce on top, then put the lid on and take to the table.

Scallops:

Put a good lug of olive oil into the fry pan. Quickly add the scallops, scored side down. Finely chop the fresh chile, you can jiggle the pan but don’t turn the scallops until they’ve had 2-3 minutes, or are golden underneath. Quickly turn them over and cook for 30 seconds, then crush over 1 unpeeled clove of garlic and sprinkle over the chile. Squeeze in the juice of ½ of a lemon and add a tiny drizzle of honey and 2 small pats of butter. Take off the heat, and when melted and sticky, put on a plate and sprinkle over  the leaves from a small bunch of cilantro.

Greens:

Once tender, tip onto a platter. Drizzle with soy sauce and extra virgin olive oil. Squeeze the juice of ½ of a lime. Taste, adjust if needed.

To serve:

Take the rice, scallops, and greens to the table. Divide everything between bowls and tuck in! Remove the brownies from the oven to cool while you eat. When ready, serve the warm brownies with a wedge of clementine and a dollop of crème fraiche.