Scallops thermidor

Name: Scallops thermidor
Yield: Serves 4 as a first course
Ingredients: 1 egg yolk; 1 tsp chopped tarragon; good knob of butter; 20 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese; 350 ml double cream; 200 ml fish stock (or ¼ good-quality fish stock cube dissolved in that amount of hot water); 100 ml white wine; 12 medium-sized scallops, cleaned and the shells reserved; 40 g Cheddar cheese, grated; 2 tsp English mustard; 1 tbsp olive oil; 200 g spinach, stalks removed; 4 shallots, finely chopped; salt and freshly ground white pepper

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a first course

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fish etc.

By Mark Hix

Published 2004

About

Scallops, with their firm texture and sweet flavour, lend themselves to many types and styles of cooking. Ask your fishmonger if he has some seaweed and use it on the plates under the scallop shells to prevent them wobbling around.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
200 g spinach, stalks removed
good knob of

Starter
Fish course
Pescatarian
Gluten-free

Method

First make the sauce: put the wine and shallots in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer until almost all of the wine has evaporated. Add the fish stock and reduce again similarly. Stir in 300ml of the double cream with the mustard and reduce until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of spoon. Add the grated cheeses and whisk until the sauce is smooth. Season and leave