WHAT’S your favourite recipe for cooking Manx queenies? In recent years the “traditional” Manx method has been to cook them quickly with garlic and bacon which is delicious.
But there are lots of alternatives for queenies (Latin name - chlamys opercularis).
• Roasted in their shells with hazelnut butter; with a cream or mild curry sauce, a tomato and chilli sauce, herbs and white wine sauce, with balsamic dressing, with minted pea puree, pan fried with chorizo, with creamed leeks, or pan fried with lemon butter. The list is endless.
The theme for queenies used by most chefs is to keep it simple and not add too many ingredients with scallops - queenies or king - and that they live on the plate particularly happily with both sweet and sharp and spicy additions such as sweet potatoes, pea puree or chilli and lime.
What’s your favourite Manx recipe for queenies? Let us know and we’ll publish the best.
TOP COOKING TIP:
The best advice of all is undoubtedly - don’t cook queenies too long; otherwise they can end up like little rubber bullets bouncing around on your plate and the flavour disappears too. Get them in and out of a heavy-based hot pan as fast as possible, no more than 4 or 5 minutes, maybe less.
The Isle of Man Queenie Festival takes place this year over three days from July 9th to 11th.
