Scallops in an Orange

2-3 scallops per mandarin;
dengaku miso - 250gm of red miso; 50ml mirin; 50ml sake; 25gm sugar

This was pretty much taken from The Food of Japan by Kosaki and Wagner which has proven a good source of recipes and ideas. They use yuzu, which is a Japanese citrus fruit.Yuzu makes for a great cocktail, mixed with sugar syrup and shochu, but, sadly, isn't available here. The book offers mandarins as an alternative but they were out of season so I used small oranges instead.

Easy to make with the dengaku miso being the only chore. It keeps for a month in the fridge so I had some on hand. To make it, put the miso, sake, mirin and sugar in a saucepan - bring to a boil and then let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cut the top bits off the orange and scoop out the innards like making a jack-o-lantern. Keep the tops. Cut the scallops into quarters and pop in the orange mixed with enough dengaku miso to loosely fill (the scallops swell when cooked). Put in the oven for 15 minutes at 180c and then put its top back on to serve.

It's a favourite of mine and another thing to do with underutilised scallops. Can't recommend using an orange, the size of mandarins meant a better balance between the dengaku miso and the amount of scallops I used. Could always use more scallops tho'