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Garnish for scallops


Mofassah

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I am having some colleagues over for dinner next week, and I am going to serve scallops for starters and chicken for main. I have it all planned out for the chicken, but not sure how I will garnish the scallops. I will cook the scallops sous vide, half an hour on 54C first, then sear them quickly at really high heat, so that's a winner, but what do I serve them with? I've done some simple leaves with a balsamico vinaigrette, sun dried tomatoes and roasted nuts, and it's OK, but not perfect. Scallops are rather sweet, so I assume it needs a bit of acidity going there, which is why I think balsamico is a good idea, but ... yeah, it's a bit boring. I think I need somehting that's both a bit acidic but also with some richness. What do you think is the best garnish for scallops?

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I play with scallops a lot. Just few combinations I enjoyed them:

-Home made mayo flavoured with smoked paprika and pickled mosterd seeds and simple salad (celery, something leafy, some pine nuts)

-Maple syrup caramelized bacon, pickled apple concasse, potato puree

-shrimp bisque froth

- deep fried oysters and poached rhubarb and small salsd

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I posted some photos in the sous vide thread, but my current favourite is a locally produced caramelised balsamic vinegar. A thick, dark, sweet syrup with a great balance of acidity and sweetness. There are lots of things that go well with scallops but I think the extra acidity in the vinegar really makes them sing. Personally I wouldn't want to overpower a scallop with a sundried tomato, but I haven't tried it so maybe it works well. And depending on your tastes an Asian sweet chilli sauce or even a hoi sin sauce would go OK. But these are fairly ordinary suggestions. I like the idea of the maple syrup bacon! That's something special...

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The most recent time I cooked scallops i garnished them with salmon roe. The salty bursts of flavour complimented the sweet succulence of the scallops very nicely. The scallops were tea-smoked first then pan seared btw.

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One of my favorite garnishes for scallops is black garlic. A black garlic puree works nicely if you have a good blender (black garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic, salt).

Another technique that's great for garnishes - from the eleven madison park cookbook - is to press the black garlic through a fine sieve, place it between two oiled sheets of acetate (or parchment). Roll it into a thin layer and refrigerate for 1 hour, then dehydrate at a low temperature (125 F) until dry. You can then punch out little black discs with a ring cutter.

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Either sweet flavours like peas, fennel or celeriac, or rich meat flavours like pancetta and black pudding are classic accompaniments for scallops. Curry spices (ginger and cumin especially) are popular too, as are ceviche ingredients like lime, lemon, coriander and spring onion.

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There's a place here that serves their scallops with a ancho oil. The flavor is spicy, sweet and smoky, and the bright, vivid red really gives the appearance a colorful pop. Plus, the oil's pretty easy to make and save for later use (it's great on grilled corn, too) ...

Edited by Rico (log)

 

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And again with the potatoes, my first thought was little blini like potato pancakes under the scallops (or to the side). Or, perhaps, some grated potato bathed in a seasoned egg, parm, and cream mix (and from Paul's sig above, add some diced sautéed Morels - because, you know, they're a good thing to have). Put in a scallop sized ring mold, sear on both sides and finish in an oven.

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Why would you sous vide scallops - they are so simple and perfect cooked in a pan with butter and oil, does it really add anything?

I do a scallop dish with a warm salsa of tomatoes, red onion, corrainder, chilli, garlic and red wine vinegar. Then also fry discs of chorizo as well as the scallops. Its a rather wintery dish though.

Curry flavour goes very well with scallops as well so something like a curried cauliflower purree wth some small florets of caulfilowed deep fried in a lite coating of gram flour with a few spices(a kind of bhaji) is really good with the scallops/

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  • 1 month later...

Heya and thanks for all the great answers. I am sorry i didn't follow up, but life turned hectic, so I havn't been able to log on and reply.

I ended up with serving them with a couple of rocket leaves, roasted pine nuts and a nice balsamico syrup, and the liquid from the sous vide bag swiftly brought to a boil with a dollop of butter.

The reason I choose to cook them sous vide is simply because it is a bullet proof way of getting them just 100 % perfect every single time. When just searing them, there's a risk of either cook them too much or too litttle. I don't like them too raw, and I don't like them too firm. Besides, when I do it sous vide, they are not just perfect in the center but all the way through, and I can give thme just a really quick sear on a smoking hot skillet, ten seconds on each side, and get that perfect maillard reaction that makes them look perfectly light brown and taste devine.

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