Coquilles St. Jacques with jamón serrano and hazelnut crust and orange sauce, on a bed of arugula
April 11th, 2008 by Ana Keller
Dear Friends, On our last club shipment, we asked our family chef, Jennifer, to create a recipe to pair with our 2006 Oro de Plata Chardonnay. I have to say, she went all the way for creative, but please try the recipe, it is fantastic !
Time:
30 minutes
Servings:
Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. fresh large sea scallops 3 teaspoons of lemon or lime zest¼ cup of olive oil1 1/2 sticks salted butter, room temperature
6 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts
1 1/2 tablespoons champagne o white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons crushed black peppercorns
1/2 garlic clove, minced
4 ounces thinly sliced jamon Serrano, chopped
1 green onion, chopped4 cups of fresh orange juice2 tablespoons orange marmalade3 tablespoons of minced fresh ginger4 tablespoons of sugarSalt and pepper 4 cups of arugula (also known as roquette)
Preparation
Marinate scallops in olive oil with lemon zest and ½ tablespoon of thyme (the lemon zest must be made from the yellow part only, because the white part would make it bitter). Orange sauce: Put in a cooking pot the orange juice, the marmalade, the ginger, the sugar in low temperature, until it reduces to one cup.Make hazelnut-jamon Serrano crust : Place butter in large bowl. Mix in hazelnuts, vinegar, rest of the thyme, crushed pepper, garlic, and salt. Mix in jamon Serrano and green onions. Place the mixture( should look like a chocolate chip cookie dough, if necessary add more hazelnuts ), in between 2 sheets of aluminum foil, and flatten with rolling pan, put in freezer until it hardens, and cut with a circle shaped cookie cutter that has the same radius as the scallop, and cut as many pieces as you have scallops, and put back in the freezer. They will look as cut out cookies.
Cook scallops:
Wash, drain scallops and pat dry between paper towels. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of remaining butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until foam subsides. While butter is heating, season half of scallops with salt and pepper. Sauté scallops until sealed, turning once. Place them in a plate you can put in the oven, with the cut out hazelnut shaped cookie above each sea scallop, and put into the oven on Broil, so the sea scallops finish cooking and the crust turns golden, and crispy. Around 10 minutes.
Serve:
Place the rinsed and dried arugula on plate, drizzle over it the warm orange sauce , and finally place the scallops above it.
Coquilles St. Jacques with jamón serrano and hazelnut crust and orange sauce, on a bed of arugula
