Nigella's Scallops with Thai Scented Pea Puree and Spelt Noodles, & Miniature Rhubarb Chocolate Cakes with Dark Chocolate Truffle Centre

We had left over scallops and left over pasta from our delicious Scallop Ravioli, so the Scallops with Thai Scented Pea Puree recipe in Nigella Kitchen seemed like a great idea. We decided to make noodles with the left over spelt pasta to accompany the dish.

The pasta we had not rolled out was kept in the fridge overnight and was still quite a good consistency to work with. I rolled it out to 7/9 on our pasta machine and then put it through the cutters to make noodles.

For the puree you cook some frozen peas and puree with a little cream and curry paste (we used curry paste that I had in the freezer from the Pumpkin and Lentil Curry). This is where I recipe went from Thai Scented to a very spicy (and tasty) pea puree as I had left my husband in charge (whilst feeding bub) and he didn't read the recipe.... So he just added the entire remaining curry paste rather then starting with 1/2 tbsp and tasting!!! It was really delicious still just very spicy, too much so for my daughter.

The scallops are seared and the pan deglazed with lime juice. That was perfect for this dish as the lime cut through the spice and sweet of the peas and scallops. What was amazing is the flavour of the scallops still held up beautifully against the heat of our puree. But thank goodness we had the delicious noodles on the plate as they made what would have been a too-hot-to-eat dish very nice to eat indeed.


I also cooked some little chocolate cakes yesterday. I first stewed rhubarb with sugar and once this was cooled I stirred it to a mush and folded it through my chocolate cake mix at the end. I put the mixture in a mini muffin pan and popped in a piece of dark chocolate truffle. The final result was beautifully soft and moist chocolate cake with a soft gooey chocolate centre - YUM! The rhubarb flavour did not really stand out and I think you could easily add extra to the recipe.

Miniature Rhubarb Chocolate Cakes with Dark Chocolate Truffle Centre

1 stick rhubarb sliced + 1tbsp raw sugar + 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup plain flour (I used organic unbleached)
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup natural yoghurt
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup raw sugar
Chocolate truffles cut into quarters

Put the rhubarb, sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat to stew, should only take 5 minutes so keep and eye on it. Once cooled mix with a spoon until soft.
Grease a 24 mini muffin tin and preheat oven to 180C.
Whisk the flour, bi-carb and cocoa together in a bowl and make a well. Whisk the oil, natural yoghurt, egg, vanilla and raw sugar in a jug and then using a spatula add to the dry ingredients until just combined. This will be very thick. Fold through the rhubarb.
Put the chocolate mix into the prepared tin and pop a piece of truffle in covering with a little of the mix as you gently push it.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the cake feels cooked (springs back).