Golden scallops recipe

Ingredients

• 800 g potatoes
• 40 g Cheddar cheese
• 70 g jarred sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• Optional: 1 splash of milk

• 200 g tenderstem broccoli
• 200 g asparagus spears
• 200 g frozen peas
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ½ a lemon

• 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
• 12 large scallops
• Olive oil
• 20 fresh sage leaves
• ½ a lemon

1. Slice the potatoes 1cm thick, put into the casserole pan with a pinch of salt, then cover with boiling water and the lid. Refill and boil the kettle. Trim the ends off the broccoli and asparagus (I like to put the asparagus through a runner bean cutter, if you’ve got one, or you can leave them whole). Put both veg into the medium pan with the peas, cover with boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Drain, toss with the extra virgin olive oil and the juice of ½ a lemon, and put into a serving bowl.
2. Crumble the cheese into the processor, add the sun-dried tomatoes and ½ a tablespoon of their oil and blitz well. Finely slice the bacon. Pat the scallops dry with kitchen paper, then score on one side in deep crisscrosses and season with salt and pepper. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the hot frying pan and add the scallops, scored side down. Cook until lightly golden on both sides, then add the bacon and sage leaves.
3. Drain the potatoes, tip into the processor and pulse up (oozy is good, but over-blitz and the mash will go gluey – not good), loosen with a splash of milk if needed. Check the seasoning and spoon on to a serving platter. Squeeze the juice of ½ a lemon over the scallops, shake and toss the pan, then serve right away with the veg on the side.