Sole And Scallop Spirals Recipes

PAN-FRIED SCALLOPS WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH TWO WAYS

Steps:

• To make the purée, heat the butter in a small saucepan and add the squash. Sweat it over a very low heat for 5 mins, then pour over the stock. Cover and gently simmer for 10-12 mins until the squash is very soft.
• Take off the heat and add the parmesan. Use a hand blender or food processor to blitz the squash until smooth, then press through a sieve into another saucepan. Season to taste and set aside.
• To make the warm salad, trim the squash into a neat block, then neatly dice the flesh into cubes no larger than 1cm. Heat half the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Fry the squash for 10 mins, or until tender and coloured, then tip onto a plate.
• Place the pan back on the heat and gently fry the bacon for 10 mins, or until crisp and brown. Add the onion and cook for 2 mins to soften in the fat, then add the capers and squash, drizzle over the sherry vinegar and toss together for 1 min. Off the heat, stir in the chives and the rest of the oil, then tip everything into a bowl and keep warm.
• Have the scallops to hand as you will need to work fast when cooking them. Clean out the frying pan and place it back on the heat with a drizzle more oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, carefully lay the scallops in the pan one at a time, like points on a clock face, starting at 6 o'clock, so you remember which one went in first.
• Scallops take very little time to cook, so by the time the last one is in the pan, the first will be brown and ready to turn over. Flip all the scallops over and give them about 1 min more, then lift onto kitchen paper on a plate to drain the oil. With the salad and the purée still warm, you are now ready to plate up.
• Spoon half the warm salad down the middle of each plate. Overlap 6 pieces of scallop along the salad. Use a spoon to swipe the purée around the outside of the food. Drizzle everything with a touch more oil, and you are now ready to serve.

SCALLOP AND SOLE RAGOUT

Steps:

• Place the stock in a small saucepan and boil until it is reduced by two-thirds. Hold in a warm spot.
• Cut the sole across the fillet into strips about three-quarters of an inch across. Slice the scallops in half horizontally. Set aside.
• Cut the carrot, leek and celeriac into julienne strips about one inch by an eighth of an inch. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and thinly slice the caps.
• Over medium-low heat, place the butter and half the Vouvray in a wide, shallow saucepan with a thick bottom or a skillet. When the butter is melted, add the carrot, leek and celeriac and cook until they're al dente, about five minutes. Add the mushrooms and season lightly with salt and pepper to taste.
• Lay the sole strips over the vegetables and sprinkle with the remaining Vouvray and the fish stock. Season lightly again. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for two minutes. Add the scallops and cook two minutes longer. The seafood should just turn white. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fish and scallops to a warm plate. Add the cream and basil to the pan and boil vigorously until the sauce thickens. With the slotted spoon, remove the vegetables to the plate. Taste and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.
• Serve on large plates, arranging the fish, scallops and vegetables attractively, then spooning the sauce over.

SCALLOP AND SOLE MOUSSELINES

Steps:

• Rinse scallops and sole and pat dry, then purée in a food processor until very smooth. Force purée through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl, scraping bottom of sieve as needed.
• Set metal bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water, then add egg white to purée and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until well combined. Add cream 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring after each addition until incorporated. (Mousseline should be the consistency of soft mashed potatoes; if it becomes runny or separates, stop adding cream and chill mixture, covered - still in ice bath - until firmer, about 30 minutes. Then continue adding cream.) Cover bowl and chill mixture 8 hours.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Cut out 10 rounds of parchment paper to line bottoms of molds and 10 rounds to line tops of molds, using 1 timbale mold as a guide. Brush molds with some melted butter and line bottom of each with a round of parchment. Chill molds 5 minutes (to set butter), then brush paper and sides of molds again with more melted butter.
• Stir salt, pepper, nutmeg, chives, and dill into mousseline, then divide among molds (they will be about two-thirds full). Rap molds on counter once or twice to settle mixture, then put a buttered parchment round, buttered side down, on surface of each mousseline. Put molds in an 8-inch square or round baking pan (2 inches deep) and bake in a hot water bath in oven until mousselines are just set and springy to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Cool mousselines in molds on a rack until warm, about 10 minutes, then invert onto a large plate and pat dry with paper towels before transferring to soup bowls.