What you are seeing in this picture: scallops nestled in the middle, drizzled with a blood orange juice and sugar caramel reduction, both blood orange segments and regular Navel orange segments in a fruit relish on top with some shredded Brussels sprouts in the background. Over on the right is the potato and celery root mash with some of the blood orange sauce drizzled on top.
Rarely do I cook scallops. We eat them out, certainly, but for whatever reason, I rarely make them myself. From what I read, you can hardly buy fresh scallops anymore – they’re all “previously frozen.” Day boat scallops are rare (you know what that means? the scallops were brought in that day from the local fishing boats). These weren’t day boats. I’d had my DH buy six of the premium ones (read: expensive – $18 for six) from a local upscale market, then I promptly came down with a cold and cough that’s kept me down. I knew these scallops needed to be eaten, though, so with my DH’s help, we made dinner.
My only caution about this meal: it takes time to make. Reading the recipe in this month’s issue (February 2011) of Bon Appetit, I really didn’t think it would. The recipe said prep time was one hour. With two of us working on it (I enlisted my DH’s help because I knew I couldn’t get it done in an hour otherwise, what with making the potato and celery root mash too – plus, I wasn’t feeling all that great). So first I did the potatoes and celery root. Peeled and chopped up, they simmered together for about 20 minutes. I couldn’t get the mixture to go through the ricer, so I did it in the food processor, and even that wasn’t a thorough puree – there were a few chunks left in the mixture. I added some butter and a little cream, salt and pepper, and that was all. Generally you never put regular potatoes in a food processor – they turn to glue (this I also know from experience many, many years ago) – but in this case because I was using both celery root and potato, I hoped it would whiz up in a hurry and not be a glue situation. It worked.
Cutting the citrus segments (they’re called supremes) from the whole oranges was the most time consuming project. I cut this recipe in half, and I had two small blood oranges and a regular orange. I also couldn’t find any mint in our kitchen garden (found out later my DH pulled it all out recently!), and didn’t have any tarragon, either. But we did have parsley. Good Italian parsley that thrives in one spot in our garden. It was dark when I went herb hunting, so I had difficulty locating things as it was. I pulled what I thought was mint, only to find out once I got inside that it was nothing but weeds! Ha! Anyway, the supremes are combined with herbs and set aside. The gastrique (a reduction, or sauce) did take a bit of time. Sugar is melted and caramelized (for two people, this took 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar). A caution: do make this in a regular sauté pan, not a (black) nonstick pan – you just cannot see when the sugar has turned color. Take it from someone who tried this, okay? I knew better, but I actually have just one good All Clad regular frying pan – everything else I use is nonstick, and black. And I was using the large, regular pan for the scallops.
So anyway, I made the sauce – adding sherry wine vinegar, the blood orange juice and chicken broth. It was reduced down to just a tablespoon or two by the end (for our two servings). I wish I’d had a bit more, so keep that in mind when you make it. Once the sauce was made I turned off the heat and set it aside; I warmed it again just before drizzling it on the scallops.
Prepping the Brussels sprouts was not difficult, but it was time consuming. My DH was set on that task, and it took a couple before he got into the rhythm of it. Cutting out the core of a raw, tiny Brussels sprout is not exactly easy. I think next time I might cut each sprout in half, then cut out the core and pull the leaves off from there. Would be a whole lot easier, although you wouldn’t get any whole leaves that way. I should have taken a photo of the mound of leaves before we started, but we were home chefs in the weeds (you know that term? that’s when you’re cooking in a restaurant kitchen and you’re slammed with orders and needing to cook like a mad woman).
Scallop Prep:
be sure to remove the small muscle flap on each scallop (it’s tough when cooked) and pat the scallops completely dry with paper towels before sautéing them.
Now for the scallops. Don’t overlook the little muscle flap on each scallop – remove it and throw it out. It’s painful, I know, especially if you paid a premium price for those scallops! But throw that little muscle away. The headnotes to the scallop recipe said not to be afraid of over heating the sauté pan. That you must have a super-hot burner and pan to cook them. So I used my very large All-Clad Stainless-Steel Fry Pan
Meanwhile I’d plated the other food – the Brussels sprouts were merely flash fried in grapeseed oil before I started the scallops and they were pushed out onto plates (ideally, heat the plates first so the veggies will hold their heat once plated). The scallops went out, the reheated drizzle went over the scallops, then the citrus relish went on top. We sat down immediately while the red hot frying pan was still sizzling on the back burner. Do eat this while it’s hot. I hated even taking time for the photographs!
The bottom line: just delicious. Dave even mentioned it to me the next morning what a fabulous dinner he thought it was. The combo of the celery root/potato mash with the scallops was also great. It makes a very attractive plate too. I might make this for guests – it’s certainly a beautiful presentation and delicious, but you must do the Brussels sprouts and the scallops at the last minute, so know that when you start. The celery root/potato mash can be made ahead. The gastrique can be made ahead too. Just get everything mis en place (everything you need set on trays all prepped and ready to go an hour or two before you start). We have leftover Brussels sprouts and ample of the mash, so I’ll have to prepare something to go with them.
Scallops with Blood Orange Gastrique and Brussels Sprouts with Potato Celery Root Mash
Recipe By: Scallop recipe by Paley’s Place, Portland, OR, from Bon Appetit, Feb. 2011
Serving Size: 4
NOTES: If you want to get that restaurant-quality caramelized crust on a scallop, you need to do three things: “Rinse it, pat it dry with a paper towel-and then get your pan really hot. Don’t be afraid,” says Vitaly Paley, chef at Paley’s Place. We’ve found that one to two minutes per side browns the scallops without overcooking them.
BLOOD ORANGE GASTRIQUE:
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
1 cup orange juice — from blood oranges, preferably (about 6 oranges)
1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
SCALLOPS & BRUSSELS SPROUTS:
2 large blood oranges — peeled, separated into segments
1/4 cup fresh parsley — chopped
1/4 cup fresh tarragon — chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint — chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil — divided use (I used grapeseed oil because it has a higher flash point)
Coarse kosher salt
8 ounces Brussels sprouts — leaves removed from core, core discarded
20 large sea scallops — side muscles removed
POTATO CELERY ROOT MASH:
1 pound russet potatoes — peeled, cubed
1 pound celery root — peeled, cubed
2 tablespoons half and half — or cream, or milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Place sugar in heavy medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until sugar begins to melt. Stir until sugar dissolves, then cook without stirring until deep golden, about 5 minutes. Gradually add vinegar (mixture will harden). Stir until caramel melts, about 1 minute. Add orange juice; boil until mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Add broth; boil until gastrique coats spoon and is reduced to generous 1/2 cup, about 15 minutes. (DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm over medium heat.)
2. MASH: Prepare celery root. Add water to cover and bring to a boil. After the celery root has reached a boil, add the cubed potatoes. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Mash or put mixture through a ricer. Add cream, butter, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. (DO AHEAD: Make up to 2 days ahead. Reheat in microwave until piping hot before serving.)
3. Mix orange segments, parsley, mint, and tarragon in medium bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil; toss to coat. Season salad with coarse salt and pepper.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add Brussels sprouts and toss until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer Brussels sprouts to bowl. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to same skillet. Sprinkle scallops with salt and pepper. Add scallops to skillet and cook until browned and just opaque in center, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
5. Arrange scallops and Brussels sprouts on plates. Drizzle gastrique over scallops. Garnish with citrus salad.
Per Serving: 466 Calories; 22g Fat (39.9% calories from fat); 19g Protein; 56g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; 35mg Cholesterol; 222mg Sodium.
A year ago: Almond Buttermilk Cake
Three years ago: Mashed Potatoes with Mascarpone
hddonna
said on January 2nd, 2017:
I made these for Valentine’s Day the year you first posted the recipe, and it has become my go-to scallops recipe (scallops being a rare and very special treat for us!) This New Year’s Day 2017, I made them for my husband, son, and daughter and her husband. They loved them! Since I couldn’t find blood oranges–I don’t think they’ve showed up in the midwest yet this winter–I tried something a little different. I used regular orange juice, but for color, I added a small raw beet, quartered, while I simmered down the mixture. It didn’t look very pretty at first, but when the gastrique reached the syrupy stage, it suddenly got clear, and the color was lovely. I removed the beets. I also added some cooked beet wedges, boiled separately, to the orange and herb salad. It worked very well. As a time saver, I elected to shred the brussels sprouts instead of picking off the leaves. Worked great. This was the first time I could find celery root when I wanted it for this recipe, so I finally tried the celery root and potato mash. It added a delicate celery flavor, which we all enjoyed. This is one of my favorite recipes from you , Carolyn, so I just wanted to share these ideas with you.
Wow, Donna, that’s impressive. How inventive to use the beets to color the gastrique! So glad it all worked out! . . . carolyn t
Donna
hddonna
said on January 3rd, 2017:
Well, I just happened to have the beets on hand. My first thought was to open a jar of morello cherries and use some of the juice along with the orange juice, but then I remembered the beets and how well they go with citrus. I think it would be interesting to try the cherry juice another time–maybe half and half with the orange.
And THAT, Donna, is how new, inventive recipes are made! . . . carolyn t