Scallops with roast red pepper sauce

These scallops are a perfect starter, best served with a glass of champagne. They also make cute little canapes served on Chinese spoons - place a teaspoon of sauce on a spoon and top with one scallop and a bit of garnish.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp	Olive oil
2 large	Red capsicums, or 3 medium, use roasted capsicums from a jar
1 ½ tsp	Sweet chilli sauce
½ tsp	Ground cumin
1 dozen	Scallops
1 knob	Butter, use a large knob
1	Lime, freshly juiced
1 to garnish	Green mango, shredded, or julienned green apple
1 to garnish	Spring onion, shredded, optional
1 to garnish	Fresh coriander, chopped
4 to serve	Scallop shells, cleaned, optional

Directions

1. Blend roast capsicums in a food processor or blender until smooth. Alternatively, if you don't have a blender, just chop finely.
2. Heat oil in a fry pan on medium heat and toast cumin, about 1 minute.
3. Add blended (or finely chopped) capsicum and sweet chilli sauce.
4. Cook on medium to high heat for 5-7 minutes until sauce has thickened and has an intense, rich capsicum flavour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Heat butter in a separate fry pan. Pat scallops dry with a paper towel.
6. When butter is just starting to brown, add scallops and fry for just under a minute on each side, seasoning with a little salt. Squeeze over lime juice while still hot in the pan.
7. To serve, spoon some sauce into a scallop shell and top with 3-4 scallops straight out of the pan.
8. Garnish with mango or apple, spring onion and coriander and serve immediately with a glass of bubbles.