As I wrote recently when I started out doing this blog it was intended to be foody, filled with interesting recipes.
Checking back I haven’t given a recipe on “Words” since the end of November, and that was for Sile’s Christmas Cake!

Here is some redress.

I was giving a dinner party over the weekend and I wanted to do a fishy starter as I had already decided to do my Cassoulet of Duck as the main course.
I went into my local fish shop, Billy Bourkes, and as luck would have it, he had some spanking fresh scallops.
A quick trawl through my own recipes yielded a recipe for Scallops in Garlic Butter which were served on a Potato Cake to mop up the delicious garlicy,buttery, scallopy juices.
I just happened to have some cooked spinach left over in the fridge so I popped this in with the potato, and managed to get some Dill to add a little more interest to the sauce.
It was delicious.
Here is the revamped recipe:

Scallops with Dill and Garlic
On a Spinach Potato Cake
(For 4 as a starter, 2 as a main course)

When cooking scallops the most important thing to avoid is over cooking.
This toughens the flesh and turns them into little balls of rubber.
They really need very little more cooking than to be heated thoroughly through.
As they are very expensive and their juices are delicious I always serve them with a garnish to soak up the juices.

225g (8 oz.) cold mashed Potato
225g (8 oz.) Spinach
2 Eggs
4 oz. fine breadcrumbs

12 Scallops
Sunflower Oil
4 oz. Butter
1 Bunch Fresh Dill, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 tbs. White wine

First cook the spinach in plenty of boiling salted water.
Drain well and gently squeeze dry.
Chop this well and mix with the potato.
Now make the Potato Cakes:
Dip your hands in flour and make into 4 large or 8 small potato cakes.
Beat the 2 Eggs and dip the cakes in this and then in the breadcrumbs.
Fry on both sides in hot oil until brown and crisp on the outside but still soft and creamy inside.
Keep these warm.
(Or you can make up in advance and re-heat)

Trim the scallops if necessary and if they are large slice in two laterally.
Put the sunflower oil on a pan, let it get very hot, and fry the scallops in this for about one minute on each side.
Put these then in a warm place with the potato cakes.
Turn the heat up in the pan and throw in the wine and the garlic.
Bring these quickly to the boil and then beat in the remaining butter,and the Dill boiling briskly until the liquid foams up , thickens and forms a sauce.
Spoon this immediately over the scallops and the potato cakes and serve.

Thanks to Caitriona for the photograph