Sant Jakez Scallops

When we were kids, my sister and I, found that the last weekend in November started to get really exciting. Not only we got to put the fake tree up, and the art work our Father used to do with the wonderful rock like paper, a grotto in and around and at the bottom of the tree for a bit of drama; decorations were out, the fun could start(unlike now, where it starts at the end of August… You people have lost it! Big time!); my mother would sit at the end of the dining table in the living room, and in her majestic teacher’s style would start writing the menu for the 24^th and 25^th.  Those two days were the only ones, as well as Birthdays, where I was asked what I would like to eat… The golden question… I was kind of the black sheep in the family, it was three against one. My sister could eat a dozen oysters for starters, I could barely see the sight of them. So my Mum designed a menu just for me. I was never a big seafood eater, apart from scallops and langoustines. My favourite dish was “Coquilles Saint Jacques”, the name for scallops in French; Jacques, Seamus, James, Tiago… Diego… Santiago de Compostela, Il Camino and the original pilgrims recognisable with the famous shell around their waist! A symbol often portrayed on bottles of wines, from Languedoc to Northern Spain… All the way to the Citadel…

First, gather your ingredients for the sauce…

For The Sauce: You’ll Need…

• 3 mushrooms
• 2 shallots
• a wee hand full of flour
• a knob of butter
• a splash of olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Herbes de Provence or thyme
• 10cl of milk to judge
• a splash of white wine

How to:

Chop the shallots and mushrooms quite finely and fry with olive oil and butter with the herbs. Add a wee handful of flour, stir, and add the milk. When it gets a bit thick, pour the white wine. Keep stirring until smooth…

The “frying game”…

Separate the scallop and the roe or coral… Fry them together, for thirty seconds on each side…Do not discard the coral… It is a sacrilege!

I know that it is now “illegal” to serve Saint Jacques’ in their shells on this Island. The politically health and safety gone mad; if as many efforts were put into our protection of environment, we would be on the best place on Earth… Anyway, hell with them! You can get the shells from your local fishmonger; be an “O.G” once in your life, an Old Gangster… Put the scallops inside the shell… Go on!

Pour the juices into the sauce and place the scallops in the shell…

Pour the sauce over, and a fine bread crumb of dried rye bread. Bake for 5 minutes in a hot oven…

Serve with love and respect…

Final Shot…

Keep Well and Eat Happy

Slán Tamall

Franck