Hotate Carpaccio (Scallop Carpaccio Appetizer)

I had two different versions of this dish at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon and I wanted to create my own version.  I had their Langoustine carpaccio as well as their halibut (or some other white fish) carpaccio.  I thought that using sashimi scallops would also be good.

 

Ingredients:

3 sashimi grade scallops

1 japanese edible ginger flower (obviously I'm lacking the technical term here, but any edible flower that can be dried will work)

1 tomato

1 TBS white soy sauce

1 pinch of black pepper

2 TBS olive oil

This is actually quite a simple dish; you really want to let the fresh scallops do all of work and just let the accompanying ingredients accentuate the flavors.  Start by drying out the tomato and ginger flower.  A food dehydrator or a conventional oven at 160 degrees will work.  Cut the tomato and remove the core, dry the pulp and cut the tomato into pedals and lay everything flat on parchment paper or silpat.  Thinly slice the ginger flower and place on parchment paper.  When everything is dried, crush in your fingers or place in grinder and grind into a fine powder. 

Freeze the scallops so you can work with it; you'll need the scallops to be firm in order to cut it into paper thin slices.  What I did was cut the scallops in half, turn it up so it's laying flat, then start slicing it into paper thin slices.  As you slice it, start laying the pieces on the plate like a mosaic.  After you've filled the entire plate, let the scallops settle into room temperature.  Since it was frozen, it'll give off excess water, blot the plate w/ paper towels as you do not want this dish to be watery cover up the sweetness of the scallops.  

You want the scallops to lay in a very thin layer without it overlapping.  There will be some empty spots where the plate is exposed, fill these spots with extra virgin olive oil and white soy sauce.  The goal is to have one evenly thin layer over the plate.  Sprinkle the rest of the plate with tomato powder, ginger flower powder, and cracked black pepper.  When serving the dish, make sure your guests get a little bit of everything in each bite.