Elegant, gourmet meals and side dishes don’t have to take hours to prepare. If you’d like to kick your next meal up a notch, you should consider serving it with a side of carpaccio of scallops with white truffle oil. As fancy as the name sounds, this dish is wonderfully simple to prepare. Before you get started, though, it helps to know a little bit of background about it.
The term “carpaccio” refers to any dish that consists of raw fish or meat that has been pounded thin or sliced very thinly. The meat or fish is then marinated with various types of garnish in order to achieve different flavors. It is believed that carpaccio was first served during the mid-1950′s in Venice, Italy. Since then, many different permutations of the subtle yet intoxicating dish have been created.
Buying the Right Truffle Oil
By investing in a bottle of fine white truffle oil through truffes.com, you can open up a whole new world of culinary delights. While it’s possible to find various types of truffle oil in gourmet stores, it’s much easier and more reliable to purchase it through the truffes.com website.
The following recipe merges the delicate flavor of fresh sea scallops with the sophisticated flair of white truffle oil. At truffes.com, you can purchase a bottle of oil that’s made out of white Italian truffles – it works perfectly with this dish.
Carpaccio of Scallops with White Truffle Oil
SERVES: 8
PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS:
12 large sea scallops
4 – 6 tablespoons of white truffle oil from truffes.com
1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste
DIRECTIONS:
1. Rinse the sea scallops thoroughly then pat them dry. Remove any side muscles, if necessary, to make slicing easier.
2. Slice the sea scallops as thinly as possible. The thinner they are sliced, the easier it will be for them to become infused with the delectable flavor of the white truffle oil.
3. As you slice the sea scallops, arrange the slices in a shallow dish.
4. Once a single layer of scallops has been completed, squeeze ample amounts of lemon on it; drizzle a few tablespoons of white truffle oil onto the fresh sea scallops.
5. Repeat steps three and four until all of the sea scallops have been used.
6. Sprinkle salt and pepper, to taste, onto the layers of marinated sea scallops.
7. Cover the dish with plastic wrap. You may leave it to marinate in the fridge, or on the counter. Marinate for half an hour to forty-five minutes for optimal results.
8. Serve with toothpicks as a side dish or as an appetizer.
The beautiful thing about this dish is its deceptive simplicity. As delectable as it is, this carpaccio would seem to be a complicated dish to prepare. Happily, it couldn’t be easier. Traditionally, carpaccio of scallops with white truffle oil is served on New Year’s Eve. Serve it then or at any time of year – it is sure to jazz up any meal.
Purchase truffles like those used in this recipe
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