Sautéed Maine Scallops on Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chanterelle Mushroom-Parsley Nage

Sautéed Maine Scallops
on Garlic Mashed Potatoes
with Chanterelle Mushroom-Parsley Nage

Serves 4

Scallops

This dish is light and flavorful, and the combination of chanterelles, scallops, and the parsley looks, feels, and tastes like spring. The key to this recipe's success is the scallops, and finding truly fresh ones is difficult. A good scallop, whether previously frozen or fresh (sometimes sold as "day boat" scallops), will be translucent and have a slight pinkish orange color. It will also be softer and more natural in shape than their processed, less fresh counterparts. Cooked with care, these will be the sweetest scallops you have ever had.

Many sub-recipes for this dish can be found in the book

Nage
1 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup packed spinach leaves
2/3 cup chicken stock
Pinch of minced garlic
1-1/2 cups chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and
sliced into bite-size sections
1 tablespoon sweet butter
2 teaspoons minced shallot
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 cups Garlic Mashed Potatoes

3 tablespoons clarified butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1-1/4 pounds cleaned scallops
2 tablespoons sweet butter
8 pieces peeled baby carrot, blanched
4 pieces baby yellow squash, blanched
12 pieces sugar snap peas, blanched
4 flat leaf parsley sprigs

To make the nage, blanch the parsley and spinach in salted boiling water, then shock in ice water. Squeeze out all the excess water and coarsely chop. Combine in a blender with the cold chicken stock and garlic, and purée until smooth. Season lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper. Strain through a fine mesh strainer, pressing against the strainer with a spatula to remove all the liquid. Set liquidy purée aside, and discard the parsley-spinach solids.

Sauté the chanterelle mushrooms in the butter over high heat for 2 minutes. Set aside.

Combine the shallot and wine in a nonreactive saucepan and reduce over high heat until 2 tablespoons remain. Add the cream and return to a boil. Season lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add the parsley-spinach purée and the chanterelle mushrooms and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

Heat the clarified butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Season the scallops with salt and freshly ground pepper; sprinkle with flour on both sides and sauté until golden brown, about 1 minute. Turn them over and cook until golden brown, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and let the scallops rest in the pan for 1 minute.

While the scallops are cooking, melt the butter in another sauté pan over medium heat and sauté the carrots, squash, and sugar snap peas until hot. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Put 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes in the center of each 4 hot shallow bowls. Taste the nage and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Spoon the nage evenly around the potatoes then divide the scallops among the plates and place them on top of the mashed potatoes. Arrange the carrots, squash, and sugar snap peas on and around the scallops. Garnish with the parsley sprigs and serve.

Buy the Book!

from:
Terra
Cooking from the Heart of Napa Valley
by Hiro Sone & Lissa Doumani
Ten Speed Press
Hardcover, 240 pages
Price: $40.00 (CAN $63.95)
ISBN: 1-58008-149-5
Recipe reprinted by permission.