This easy-to-make dish is delicious, the sweet scallops balanced beautifully by the sweet/sour/salty sauce, the subtly spicey watercress leaves and stalks, and the inspired use of Parmesan. It came from Japan's equivalent of Delia Smith. It is regularly cooked when scallops are in season

6 very fresh unsoaked scallops

10g butter

Groundnut oil for frying

4 tbspns white wine

2 tbspn miso

2 tbspn mirin

2 tspn soy sauce

1 tspn caster sugar

2 tbspn water

1 tspn Japanese mustard (if you can’t get this, use half and half wasabi and smooth French mustard)

2 tbspns crème fraiche

Small bunch watercress, leaves removed from stalks, stalks finely chopped

4 slices sourdough, toasted and cut into 3cm wide chunks

20g fresh Parmesan cheese, coarsely grated (or you can use a lemon zester)

Salt & pepper

• Heat the butter in a small saucepan. Add the white wine and, stirring, the miso, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and water or dashi to the pan and stir. Bring to a boil, stirring, then turn off the heat. Mix in the mustard and the crème fraiche and season with salt and pepper. Have a taste, it should be a perfect meld of flavours, with no one flavour dominating

• Season the scallops with a little freshly ground black pepper

• Heat the oil in a small frying pan. Fry the scallops for no more than one minute on either side until seared on the outside, but still rare in the middle

• Arrange the watercress leaves and toast on two dinner plates. Place the scallops in the middle, and dress with the sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan, garnish with the chopped watercress stems and serve