Rock Pooling treats

One of our family's favourite things to do on holiday is to go rockpooling. Those tiny amazing microcosmic worlds - a whole universe contained within a rock.

Last week we went down to Devon with 'granny and granddad' - it was a halloween spectacular at the holiday park they go to. We had a great weekend - good fish and chips!

On the Saturday we took our littlie rockpooling and had the most amazing couple of hours on the beach. We were particulary excited to find a scallop in a rock pool. He was clearly not that happy about being put in a bucket and 'looked' at - but his crossness provided great amusement as he continually squirted water at us.

We were even more excited to discover a section of rockpools where a whole bucketful of scallops had landed. (You've never seen two thirty + year olds look so excited about rockpooling) We gathered our cache and informed the littlie that they had now moved on from being a curiosity to being our supper.

I was a little aprehensive as to how she might receive this news - I braced myself for concern, tears, a tantrum ... what I hadn't quite banked on was her little tongue poking out, licking her lips and patting her tummy before saying 'Yum! I love scallops in my tummy!'




Beach found scallops with garlic butter.
Good fresh seafood should be treated simply.

3 x scallops per person for a starter

2x spring onions

A clove of garlic finly chopped

Knob of butter

Kill the scallop by sliding in a long sharp knife and running it along the flat side of the scallop. You'll know when it's dead because the 'snapping' hinge will relax and you'll be able to pull apart the shell with ease.

It looks pretty disgusting at this point, you may want to use scissors to trim off all of the excess from the white scallop nugget. Disgard everything except the nugget and the roe. Put aside onto a plate and if cooking later, cover with clingfilm and place into the fridge (don't leave them sitting in a warm room for more than twentyish minutes.

Get a heavy based frying pan, add a knob of butter and a thimble of oil (to stop it burning). Heat until the butter is frothy. Add the sliced, chopped spring onions and the chopped garlic clove. Cook until soft. Add the scallops to the pan spaced out. Cook for about 1-2 minutes per side until the surface is butter brown.

REMEMBER - There is no such thing as an undercooked scallop! If you're unsure then take off sooner rather than later. Overcooked scallops are rubbery and horrible.

Serve them by piling them into one of the washed shells. Spoon over the butter, garlic mix and serve with fresh brown bread or a green rocket salad.