Baked manx queenies with a chorizo crust

Baked manx queenies with a chorizo crust

“There are now British producers making fantastic chorizo allowing us to use this very versatile ingredient on our menu at Roast. Queenies work particularly well with chorizo or other cured meats because the salt content balances with the clam’s shellfish sweetness...”

Marcus Verberne

Serves 4

Ingredients

48 fresh queenies in the half shell

½ an onion, finely chopped from Chegworth Valley

100g cooking chorizo from Cannon and Cannon

120g butter from Real France

8 slices of fresh white sandwich bread

50ml vegetable oil

2 tablespoons of flat green parsley, chopped

Sea salt and black pepper

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 200c. For the chorizo crust, remove and discard the crusts from the bread and blend the slices into crumbs in a food processor. Peel the skin encasing the chorizo and cut into small dice.

In a saucepan on a medium heat, cook the chorizo in the vegetable oil, rendering out all the tasty orange fat. Add the diced onion and approximately 80 grams of the butter. Cook the onion slowly until soft and translucent before mixing in the bread crumbs.

Once the bread crumbs have absorbed the butter and chorizo fat, season the mixture with the sea salt and pepper. Try not to overwork, as you want the breadcrumbs to stay fluffy and not form into a ball of dough. Add the chopped parsley and transfer to a tray to cool quickly.

Clean your queenies ensuring they are free from grit. Sprinkle the chorizo crust generously over each scallop. They won’t need seasoning as the crust should provide enough. Bake in the oven for 4 minutes and then switch the oven to grill so a crust forms.