Certain ingredients always seem like a real treat. Scallops is one - they are the sort of thing that is mostly encountered in restaurants and seem that bit too expensive to buy fresh. When I was still living on the south coast I remember my mum and I being the unexpected beneficiaries of glut of scallops. A family friend, who is a boat builder, had been paid for some work he had done for a fisherman with the most enormous sack of fresh scallops still in their shells. As his wife was away and there was no way he could possibly tackle such a feast on his own he gifted us some. I don't remember how we ate them - likely very simply pan fried. I do remember they were delicious.
