The Ethicurean Cookbook: Recipes, foods and spirituous liquors, from our bounteous walled garden in the several seasons of the year by Ethicurean The

Author:Ethicurean, The [Ethicurean, The]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2013-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

Scallops in Puff Pastry with Vermouth and Fennel Cream

This looks like a very simple dish, almost as if it had just been plucked from the shoreline. Choose the curved shell of the scallop to serve them in, rather than the flat one. The pastry cover leaves your guests the task of discovering what you have placed beneath. Since scallops need very little cooking and the shells conduct heat so well, all the ingredients quickly steam under the pastry as it crisps in the oven. The dish can be assembled in advance, kept chilled and then finished in 10 minutes (add a couple of minutes to the cooking time if they’ve been kept in the fridge).

The sauce is based on a simple reduction. Reducing liquid by boiling it rapidly forces it to evaporate, causing it to thicken gradually. The combination of fish stock, vermouth and cream begins as sweet and rich and ends up with a savoury and satiating bitterness after being reduced. Fennel is an ingredient in some vermouths and has a tried and tested affinity with the botanical flavours in our vermouth (see here). The scallops can be served on fennel fronds, those feathery leaves at the top of the fennel bulb.

SERVES 6

150ml fish stock (see here)

75ml single cream

50ml dry vermouth (for our house Vermouth, see here)

6 diver-caught scallops, including the orange roe, plus their shells

1 small carrot

1 small onion

¼ small bronze fennel bulb

320g puff pastry (for homemade, see here)

1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt, to glaze

sea salt and black pepper

Put the fish stock in a heavy-bottomed pan, place over a fairly high heat and let it boil away vigorously until reduced by half its volume. Add the cream and vermouth and continue to boil until the sauce has thickened and reduced by half again. Taste and add salt if needed, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Slice each scallop horizontally into 3 if they are thick enough to do so, or in half if they are a little smaller. Cut the carrot into matchstick-sized pieces and finely dice the onion. Cut the fennel bulb quarter into very fine slices. Add a layer of each vegetable to each curved scallop shell and place the scallop slices on top. Pour a couple of tablespoons of the sauce over each scallop and crack some black pepper over them.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured worktop to 2–3mm thick. Cut it into 6 squares large enough to cover the scallop shells. Press the pastry on to the edge of each shell, working round it with your thumb so the sharp shell cuts through, trimming off the excess. This will seal the edges at the same time. Cover with cling film and chill until needed.

Heat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and place the shells in the oven for 8 minutes or until the pastry is lightly coloured.

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