By Sara McCleary Updated - This post may contain affiliate links
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Seared Sea Scallops with blood limes and hazelnuts toasted in butter until the hazelnuts have acquired a buttery crunch, morphing the butter into heavenly toasted brown elixir for your taste buds. Doesn’t that sound just divine? Trust me they taste just as delicious as they sound, with the added bonus of being a rather simple recipe.
This recipe is the product of being gifted a big bag of Australian blood limes from gal pal, Amanda. Foodie friends are the best friends, and when you are close friends this wonderful friendship often results in the exchange of gorgeous product. In this case I was the very happy recipient.
Blood limes are an Australian citrus fruit, but not one created by nature. A relatively new hybrid created in the laboratories of the CSIRO. Blood limes are a hybrid between an Australian native red finger lime and an acid mandarin. They are the result of the CSIRO’s study into salt resistant crops, arriving on the commercial market back in 2004. I personally thank the CSIRO for their hard work, go science and research!
Blood limes are in season now, and if you are an Aussie, go forth and seek! If you live in the USA I believe we may be exporting some of these ruby skinned fruits your direction, keep those eyes peeled.
Blood limes are a tart tasting lime, quite different to a Tahitian lime. I've read on many sites that they are meant to be sweeter than a traditional lime, but I will agree with the CSIRO when they say they are quite acidic like a lemon and I think that is why I pick up the tartness.
What I really love is that the juice vesicles can be removed similarly to the finger lime. Not quite as easily, but with a little effort you end up with blood lime “caviar”.
These scallops are a lovely canapé to serve to guests. They look very pretty and the blood lime is a wonderful talking point. Plus they are damn delicious too. The tang of the blood lime marries so well with the deep toasty flavour of the butter and hazelnuts, which add a textural crunch to the tender sea scallop.
Can’t get your hands on blood limes? Don’t panic you can quite easily replace them with traditional limes. I suggest adding a couple of slithers of lime flesh on top of each scallop, as you won’t be able to achieve the “caviar” look.
And back to Amanda, if you do happen to get your hands on some blood limes, head over to Chew Town for some additional recipes. She has been cooking up a storm and there are some amazing recipes on their way, like this Blood Lime Crème Brulee.
Sara xxx
Other Seafood Hors d'oeuvres
Chilled cucumber soup shots with spicy crab - perfect summer entertaining
Seared Scallops with Sake Butter Sauce - a Japanese twist on a classic
Chilled corn soup with crab and gin pickled tomatoes - a little sassy and one for gin lovers
- one for the dumpling addicts out there
Smoked trout on potato rosti - a mouthful of amazing
Prawn toast with corn & black sesame - twisted prawn toast at its best
Spiced prawn pappadams - mini pappadams filled with spicy prawn
Printable Recipe
Seared Scallops, Blood Limes & Hazelnut Brown Butter
Recipe Author: Sara McCleary
Seared Scallops with blood lime and hazelnut brown butter. A simple and delicious dish using Australian blood limes.
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Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 20 minutes mins
Course Canapés &, Snacks
Cuisine Australian
Servings 12
Ingredients
- 1 dozen sea scallops on the half shell
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 60 grams hazelnuts roughly crushed
- 60 grams unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons chopped chives
- 5-6 blood limes
Instructions
Remove sea scallops from their shells. Give the shells a quick wash under the tap, dry, and place on a large serving plate.
Zest and remove the juice vesicles from three blood limes. To remove the vesicles cut the limes in half after zesting, then carefully give them a squeeze between your fingers. They should start to pop out, use a small spoon to aid their removal. Mix zest and lime “caviar” in a small bowl.
Melt butter in a small saucepan and then add hazelnuts. Cook the hazelnuts (stirring) in the butter until the butter bubbles, froths and starts to brown. Remove saucepan from heat and continue to stir the hazelnuts until the butter froth subsides. Season with salt and pepper. Leave off the heat to one side until needed.
Place a large heavy based non stick pan over a medium high heat and heat oil. Place scallops in the pan and cook on one side until brown, then turn and cook until just cooked through. Don’t over cook your scallops or they will end up quite rubbery.
You want your pan to be hot when adding the scallops so they start to sear as soon as they are placed in it. Don’t over crowd the pan as the scallops will sweat instead of sear. If the pan isn’t large enough to take all 12 scallops at once, with plenty of room around each scallop, cook them in two batches.
Remove scallops from pan once cooked and set aside on some paper towel.
Place a decent spoonful of hazelnuts on each scallop shell. Top with a scallop and then drizzle with the brown butter. Sprinkle with chives and finish them off with the blood lime zest and “caviar” mix.
While plating the scallops sear a couple of blood limes in the pan you cooked your scallops in. Cut the blood limes in half, place them in the hot pan flesh side down, and sear. Serve them with the scallops, and guests can squeeze some additional blood lime juice over the top.
Serve immediately.
Oven Temperatures
All oven temperatures are fan forced.
Measurement Notes
All measurements are Australian metric standard. All measures are level, and cups are lightly packed unless specified. 1 teaspoon = 5ml / 1 tablespoon = 20mls / 1 cup = 250ml /4 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
The recipe's nutritional information is an approximation based on an online calculator. It is meant solely for reference purposes. If you're looking for precise details, be sure to double-check with your own research.
Did You Make This Recipe?I do a happy dance when people share how they went. Tag me on Instagram or Twitter @bellyrumbles & #bellyrumbles
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Suchi @elegantmeraki
I always get excited to learn about something new! awesome combination! hazelnut brown butter looks like an amazing addition.
Reply
John | heneedsfood
Great use of the limes with those juicy scallops. I like that blood lime juices better than finger lime, which doesn't juice at all. So much more versatile!
Reply
Amanda | Chew Town
Woo hoo! Love the sound of scallops, blood lime and hazelnuts - truly delicious!!
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milktea
The scallop looks amazing! Cravings activated!
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Manju | Cooking Curries
I really love how you have plated them! Looks so very gorgeous. I can only imagine how good the combination of scallops and blood lime would be!
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Sara
Thanks so much Manju, they really are a great combo.
jayne
I have never thought of scallops and hazelnuts together before but it wounds wonderful! it has been too long since I ate some wonderful scallops
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Sara
Hazelnuts really do go so well with scallops, you need to give them a whirl.
Amanda Mason
What a beautiful display! I LOVE scallops!! These look amazing and I can't wait to try them!
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Sara
Thanks so much Amanda, hope you enjoy them if you make them.
Sally - My Custard Pie
So pretty. I've never heard of blood limes before - they look and sound rather wonderful. Have a bit of a lime addiction anyway. These scallops are calling me now....
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Sara
Glad the scallops are calling you, they would be brilliant with normal lime if you can't get your hands on blood limes.
Fareeha
Wow, this looks like an amazing combo. The flavor and texture must be so perfect. I need to make this asap
Reply
Sara
They really are great flavours and textures Fareeha. Hope you enjoy them if you make them.
Gaby
For some reason I never thought of combining scallops and nuts... and hazelnuts happen to be my favourites 🙂
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Sara
Hey Gaby, hope I have inspired some scallop and nut creations in your kitchen. The hazelnuts go so well with the scallops and then the zing of lime is a lovely finish.
Sarah @ Champagne Tastes
This sounds delicious! I've never heard of blood limes.. I wonder if I could substitute part lemon juice and part lime juice? And seared scallops are one of my favorites.. I can't find them on the shell here sadly, but I love that presentation!
Reply
Sara
When I can't find scallops on the shell I use individual spoons to serve them on. Chinese soup spoons are brilliant for that. I would just use normal lime, you could add cut up segments on top, and use the juice.
Sarah @ Champagne Tastes
Oh that's an awesome idea!
Mark, Compass & Fork
I love the modern, Australian aspect to this. Scallops deserve to be combined with quality ingredients. They look very appetizing. Nice job.
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Sara
Thanks so much Mark. The blood limes were a lovely addition to the scallops and did add an Aussie zing.
Kelly @ Mostly Homemade Mom
Those blood limes look really interesting! I'm loving anything seafood right now, thanks for sharing!
Reply
Sara
Glad you liked Kelly. If you get your hands on some blood limes they are fun to play with.
Shelby @ Go Eat and Repeat
Blood limes sound interesting! My first thought when I heard of them was Blood Oranges, but it sounds like they have a different taste. I'll definitely need to try them when I see them
Reply
Sara
They do have a completely different taste to blood oranges, think tart lime.
Priya
Such a gorgeous dish to serve especially to your guests! I have never tried anything with blood limes. So bookmarking this one <3
Reply
Sara
Thanks Priya, it is definitely a great dish for entertaining.
