avocado and mango tower with grilled scallops 2

Summertime in London is a really odd thing. For one, you don’t pack your jackets away. And secondly, it’s actually colder than Sydney right now and they are in the midst of their winter. The third thing, and this happened yesterday, they announce there’s a heat wave when there is not. It’s 23 degrees, my English friends. 23 degrees.

But I will pucker my little lips together and I Shalt Not Whinge. In fact, I think I even embraced the London summer not so long ago, no?

So anyway, true to my embracement of this thing we so frivolously call “summer”, or maybe I’m just practicing the ancient art of mind over matter (think warm be warm), I’ve been playing with summery foods lately, borrowing inspiration from others and tweaking them to suit my own higgledy piggledy tastebuds.

One of my favourite borrowed recipes has been Sarah J. Gim’s lobster mango avocado tower, except hers is infinitely cleverer than mine because (a) she has lobster and (b) her tower creation coincided with the sham that is valentine’s day and so it is in the shape of a love heart! *awww* *puke* *awwwwwww*

I’ve also used scallops for mine because I do genuinely like scallops more than lobsters and besides to get fresh lobster in central London? Are you kidding me? I think I might have to go to Waitrose to find me a thrice frozen, two-week old little lobster, gazing forlornly at me from his frozen ice pit of a home, begging me to take him home. Uhhh, no, but thanks.

avocado and mango tower with grilled scallops

PS: avocado and mango again courtesy of Abel & Cole, delivering organic produce to one and all, and slowly, ever so slowly, turning me into an organic believer.

Avocado and mango tower with grilled scallops
1 large avocado, diced
1 mango, diced
Handful of scallops (really, the amount of scallops depends on the sturdiness of your tower)
Olive oil
Cracked pepper
  1. Dice the mango the push it to the bottom of a circular glass.
  2. Dice the avocado and add these on top. Squish it a little, but don’t pulverise the poor fruits.
  3. Flip the glass over on the serving plate, give it a tap so the mango and avocado come loose.
  4. I tried this a couple of times, and decided avocado was best on the bottom because it was sturdier. You can always test fate and try it the other way around.
  5. The tower should be sturdy-ish, I found a little refrigeration (an hour?) helps. Do not leave overnight as the avocado goes a lovely shade of brown.
  6. Lightly grill or panfry some scallops and carefully carefully place these on top of your tower.
  7. Dust with cracked pepper to taste.
  8. Serve immediately.
Makes 2 as a starter.

16 Thoughts on “avocado & mango tower with grilled scallops: summer lovin’ my way

  1. It looks great. Was it not overly sweet though? I notice you haven’t used any salt in your recipe.

  2. I didn’t think it was overly sweet – I don’t add a lot of salt to any of my cooking but I think the savoury-ness from the lightly panfried scallops cut through the mango sweetness. And the avocado added a nice neutral touch.

  3. 1. it’s COLD in England even in the summer time?! why in the hell do i want to live there so badly then? oh i know. it’s not for the food or climate, apparently but because brits are clever-er than us, and even if they’re not, they SOUND like they are.

    2. i love love love avocado. i also have an affinity for scallops. i do not, however, like cooking with seafood. call it an american being a pansy & wishy washy, either way, the fear of overcooking said seafood keeps me from consuming the stuff at home. your tower is beautiful, almost too pretty to eat.

    3. stay warm.

  4. This looks absolutely delish. But, I think I would have preferred the lobster, me being me.

  5. Yum!!! Tis looks goooood! I want want!

  6. Tiffany on August 18, 2009 at 4:11 am said:

    Oh yumm!! That combination looks sublime. I might give it a go once summer hits here 🙂

  7. Lan: Why do you wanna come to England? The smart people? Are you serious? 🙂 Well if you do come, drop me a line, we gotta go eat 😉 Oh and thanks *blush*, I know it was pretty.. but I ate it just the same.

    Lobster Queen: It’s all good. Surely there’s a Scallop Queen out there too 🙂

    Ying: Sounds like Tiffany might make you one 😉

    Tiffany: Go make Ying one!

  8. Grace Chan on August 18, 2009 at 12:52 pm said:

    THIS LOOKS SENSATIONAL!!!! i will definitely give it a try!!!!!!!!!!

  9. Nice tower you got there. I bet it tastes very refreshing. Different type of sweetness from scallops and mango! NIce combo!

  10. That looks really good! Great presentation!

  11. Grace: go for it, it’s easy!

    penny: yeh it’s definitely refreshing – good summer salad/starter even though summer is 23 degrees heh.

    Kevin: thanks Kevin 🙂

  12. our winter is approaching 30C!

  13. I made this for Saturday Blog Showcase. I love your blog and this dish, as simple as it was to make, was absolutely delicious! Thanks!

  14. THIS LOOKS AMAZING. SIMPLY AMAZING.
    I AM GOING TO MAKE THIS SOOOOOOOOOOON ! ! ! !

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