Melon is out of season. Still, we were working on some interesting new dishes and I let seasonality slide. We
were working on the hows of a dish. We presented our seared melon terrine in today's hydrocolloid class. We did not serve it with anything, simply the seared terrine on a plate. I was really excited with the results.
After the class ended I went back to the refrigerator and pulled out a chicken skin crusted scallop. It was the result of yesterday's Activa class. With both of these ingredients on hand we had the beginning of a dish. We slowly rendered the chicken skin so that we would have a crisp crust for the scallop. The terrine was seared in a touch of olive oil. When the scallop was cooked and the terrine lightly caramelized we brought the two together. The simplicity of the dish is what makes it really beautiful and exciting.
We had a bit of a debate about this dish because the melons were not at their peak. Fortunately the act of cooking them helped to concentrate their flavors and accent what was there to work with. Honestly though, this is a summer dish. Imagine it with crisp, juicy watermelon, firm, fragrant honeydew, and luscious, yielding cantaloupe, a bit of lovage for the garnish wouldn't be amiss. It is actually a pretty delicious early spring dish. It's just tough knowing how much better it will be in a few months.
