Poached Lobster Scallops And Vegetables With Vermouth Recipes

SEA SCALLOPS POACHED IN WHITE WINE

Steps:

• For 1 1/2 pounds whole scallops. Simmer 1/2 tablespoon minced shallots for 3 minutes with 1/3 cup each of dry white French vermouth and water plus 1/2 teaspoon salt and a small imported bay leaf. Then add the scallops and simmer 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, just until lightly springy to the touch. Remove from heat and let cool in the liquid at least 10 minutes, to pick up its flavor. Remove scallops, discard bay leaf, and rapidly boil down liquid until almost syrupy.
• serving suggestions: fines herbes
• Stir fresh minced parsley and/or dill, tarragon or chives into the reduced liquid, and briefly reheat scallops, folding in, if you wish, a few tablespoons of heavy cream.
• provençal-with tomatoes
• Stir 1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped fresh tomatoes (see box, page 30) and 1 large clove of minced garlic into the reduced liquid. Cover and simmer 5 minutes, then uncover and boil down rapidly to thicken. Season. Fold in the scallops and reheat briefly. Fold in minced parsley or other green herbs and serve.
• Note
• Simmering times for quartered sea scallops and bay scallops, 15 to 30 seconds; for calicos, bring just to the simmer.

SEARED SCALLOPS OVER MICRO GREENS WITH ORANGE TARRAGON VINAIGRETTE WITH BUTTER POACHED LOBSTER

Steps:

• For the vinaigrette: In a small pot, add the orange juice and tarragon sprig. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and reduce the juice by half. When reduced, remove the tarragon sprig, and chill the juice in the refrigerator. When cooled, add the white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Whisk together. Slowly drizzle the grapeseed oil while whisking until you get an equal balance of oil to juice. Taste, then adjust the seasoning if necessary. Put aside.
• For the gastrique: In a small pot, add the sugar, apple cider vinegar and some salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the mango, and simmer for 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender, blender or even a hand mixer to blend well. Then strain through a fine mesh sieve. (If you don't have a fine sieve, you can use a regular strainer lined with cheese cloth or a clean dish towel.) You want to remove any little bits of mango that the blender missed. Put in the refrigerator to cool.
• For the lobster: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the white vinegar. Drop in the lobster tails and simmer them until they just begin to turn bright orange/red. Let cool and remove the lobster meat from the shell. Chop the meat into pieces, just smaller than bite size.
• Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the garlic and shallots. Saute until translucent. Add the remaining butter and melt. Add a good pinch of salt. Add the lobster and stir to coat with the butter. Simmer for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and keep warm.
• For the crostini: Preheat the oven broiler. Cut a clove of garlic in half, and rub both sides of the bread with the cut sides of the garlic. Brush one side of the bread with olive oil, and sprinkle very lightly with herbes de Provence and salt. (If you don't have HDP, you can use a mixture of dried thyme, basil, rosemary, marjoram, sage, savory and fennel seeds, or any one of those herbs you happen to have.) Lay the bread on a cookie sheet and reserve.
• To assemble: Start with the scallops. Pat your scallops dry with paper towels. They MUST be dry in order to get a nice sear and crust on the outside. (If you don't, you'll have a scallop just steeping in its own liquid, getting mushy, with no color, sear or flavor.)
• With a paring knife, score the top of the scallops with a crisscross. You want to just score the outer layer, 1/16-inch deep. Sprinkle the scallops with salt and pepper. In a scorching hot pan with grapeseed oil, put your scallops in scored-side down. Grapeseed oil has a very high smoke point, which allows you to cook at higher temperatures for longer before it starts to smoke and burn.
• The scallops will tell you when it's ok to lift them and take a peek at your sear. When you're able to pick the scallops up with no resistance at all, you can then take a peek to see if you're ready to flip it. You want a nice rich golden brown color on your scallop. Once you've achieved the proper color, flip your scallops and remove the pan from the heat.
• Put your crostini in the oven to toast.
• Add the vinaigrette to your greens a little at a time. You want to just cover the greens with the vinaigrette, we don't want to drown it. Think light.
• Now on each serving plate, place a silver-dollar-size portion of the dressed micro greens in the center of the plate. Take a teaspoon of the mango gastrique, and put it on the plate in front of the greens. Then with the back side of the spoon, run it through the middle of the sauce. Take 3 or 4 pieces of the lobster, blot them on a paper towel, then place them in the center of your gastrique schmear. Place your scallop on top of your micro greens. Place 2 crostinis off to the side of the scallop. Then cross 2 whole chives over each plate and you're done.

SCALLOPS WITH SAFFRON LOBSTER SAUCE AND CAVIAR

Steps:

• In a large pot, bring the white wine to a boil over high heat. Add the lobster, cover, reduce heat and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the lobster and set aside. Reserve the broth.
• When the lobster is cool, remove the meat from the claws and tail and set aside. Use a sharp knife to split the body and to break the shell into 2- to 3-inch chunks. Place the shells in the reserved lobster broth over low heat, and simmer for 1 hour. Strain and set aside.
• Melt 1 teaspoon of the butter in a clean saucepan. Add the shallots, and saute until softened, about 30 seconds. Add the lobster broth and the sparkling wine, and bring to a slow simmer. Add the scallops, and simmer just until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, place in a bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.
• Place 2 cups of the poaching liquid in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until reduced to 1 cup, about 15 minutes. Add the saffron, and simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 10 minutes. Cut the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons butter into small pieces. Remove the sauce from the heat, and gradually whisk in the butter. Carefully stir in the caviar to avoid breaking the eggs.
• Cut the lobster meat into bite-size chunks. Steam the spinach just until wilted, and divide among 4 plates. Divide the scallops among the plates, sprinkle with lobster chunks and spoon the sauce over the scallops and lobster. Serve immediately.

SEA SCALLOPS WITH VERMOUTH

Steps:

• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 turns of the pan of olive oil, about 2 tablespoons and the chopped shallots to the pan. Cook shallots in oil a minute or so, add artichoke hearts and toss to heat through. Season artichokes with salt and pepper and combine with parsley and capers. Transfer artichokes to a serving dish.
• Wipe out pan and return to the heat, raising heat a bit. Season drained and trimmed scallops with salt and pepper. Add 1 turn of olive oil to the very hot pan and immediately place the scallops in the pan. Sear the scallops in a single layer, causing them to caramelize, 2 minutes on each side. Add vermouth to the pan and cook out the alcohol, 1 to 2 minutes. Arrange the scallops in vermouth over top of the artichokes and serve.

MOUSSELINE DE FRUIT DE MER

Steps:

• For the filling Warm a saute pan with a small amount of olive oil. Take the diced shrimp, finely diced elbow lobster meat, and diced sea scallop, and sear lightly. Remove the remaining lobster meat from the shell and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Reserve this lobster meat and the whole shrimp and scallops in the refrigerator. Add the diced vegetables and saute for 1 minute. Deglaze with the vermouth. Bring the ingredients to boil and simmer for 1 minute. Strain, reserving the seafood and vegetables and the liquid separately. Return the liquid to the saute pan. Add the heavy cream and a small amount of beurre-manie, and bring to a boil. Add back the seafood and vegetable mixture. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and the chopped tarragon. Set aside.
• For the Fish Mousse: Put the chopped fish in a food processor and run it at high speed until the fish has a very tight consistency. Now add the egg while the machine is running and then the heavy cream. Run until the fish mousse has a shiny and bright consistency. Add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper for seasoning, set in cool place.
• Butter 6 small stainless steel cups, 1 1/2-inch diameter and approximately 2 inches deep. Take a small amount of fish mousse in pastry bag with a small opening, and coat the bottom and the inner sides of the buttered cup with a thin layer of the fish mousse repeat 5 more times with the remaining cups. Now take the seafood filling and fill up almost to the very top of the cup. Take a small amount of fish mousse and cover the opening with it. Set aside.
• Assembly: Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Fill a roasting pan that will fit all 6 molds in it, halfway with hot water. Place the molds in the water and place in the oven. Bake for approximately 8 to 10 minutes.
• While timbale is baking, warm a frying pan, add a small amount of extra-virgin olive oil and quickly saute the reserved shrimp, scallops, and lobster. Place warm sauerkraut in center of warmed plates, set the seafood around it, garnish with the diced tomatoes and cooked vegetable pearls. Place the fish mousse timbales upside down in the center of the sauerkraut, remove the stainless steel cup. Garnish with caviar and quail eggs. Mix the champagne sauce and spoon it around the seafood. Finish with chervil and chopped chives. Serve immediately.
• In a small bowl, mix together the butter and flour until they are well combined and a paste is formed.
• Sweat the diced onions in small amount of butter without giving color. Set the sauerkraut atop and add the Champagne, water, bouquet garni, bay leaf, juniper berries and seasoning. Cook on low heat for approximately 15 minutes. Set aside in warm place.
• Sweat the shallots with the peppercorns in a small amount of butter in a saute pan, without giving any color to the shallots. Deglaze with the vermouth and the champagne. Add the parsley stems and reduce down to 1/3. Add the chicken or fish stock, and reduce down again to 1/3. Now add the heavy cream and mix in the butter. Simmer the sauce for 1 minute and season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Set aside in warm place.