Our good friend E, a colleague of my husband’s, has many talents. He is, among other things, a biologist who studies octopus, a nature printer in the Japanese style, an excellent cook, and a cheerful, kind fellow who is lots of fun to be around. Not long after I first met him, E came to Hawaii to go on an oceanographic cruise with my husband. The day he arrived, dinner was to be hotdog enchiladas, my husband’s specialty (basically, wieners and refried pinto beans wrapped in flour tortillas, topped with enchilada sauce, and smothered in cheddar cheese). I’d forgotten to buy wine or beer on the way home from work, but there was a bottle of California “champagne” in the refrigerator and E offered to make a fruit salad. I figured dinner was in hand. Then I saw E’s salad. It was a work of art--too pretty to eat--but we devoured it in no time, along with the hotdog enchiladas and the champagne.
E and our mutual late friend K (of the Mangold steak recipe featured earlier on this blog) came up with the basic recipe below while working in Banyuls-sur-mer, France, where mussels are plentiful. They called it Moules de Banyuls. In Honolulu, good mussels are hard to find, but, as I’ve mentioned before, there are nice frozen, wild-catch scallops, so I use those instead. If you can get good mussels in the shell, double the weight of mussels, clean and cook them (discarding any that don’t open), shuck them, and then place the cooked mussels singly on an intact half shell, top with the sauce, and broil for a minute or two until bubbly. The sauce is really delicious. I want to try it with mild white fish fillets like halibut or sole, with chicken cutlets, and, when I can find good ones, with moules. The adapted recipe follows (with apologies to E for liberties taken).
To serve 4 to 6 as an appetizer, or 2 to 3 as a main course, you need:
1½ pounds of scallops (without shells), 4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 to 3 cloves minced garlic (about 1 tablespoon), 1½ cups finely sliced green onions, 1½ cups diced fresh tomatoes (or a 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes), 1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro, ½ teaspoon saffron, salt and pepper to taste, Italian herbs to taste (oregano, thyme, rosemary), and ¼ cup heavy cream.
To prepare the sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium-size skillet. Saute the garlic and onions at medium-high heat until soft. Add the diced tomatoes, cilantro, pinch of saffron and other desired seasonings. Continue cooking at medium-low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the cream during the last few minutes of cooking. When the sauce is done, remove it from the heat and set it aside in a bowl. This stage can be done 2 to 3 hours ahead of time and the bowl placed in the refrigerator until ready to use. Makes about 2 cups of sauce.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Farenheit. Place the raw scallops in an ovenproof dish, top with the tomato-cream sauce, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and the scallops are cooked through. Take care not to overcook the scallops. Serve as an appetizer with crusty bread to soak up the sauce or as a main course with rice.
Here are the basic ingredients:
The
tomato-cream sauce on the stove:
And the Sunset Scallops
ready to serve:
