Scallops & Rhubarb

springtime in Vermont, rhubarb, maple syrup & chives

Here is my entry in Battle Rhubarb & Coriander Seed by Foodie Fights. This is more of technique than a step by step recipe. It looks long but be brave and read the whole post. Here is the link to the voting site. Be fair and view all the entries before you decide.

Rhubarb is a pretty tart pill to swallow. Smells better than it tastes. Rhubarb was first cultivated by the Sugarcane Growers Assoc as a way to get us New Englanders to use more sugar and less maple syrup. It's a fact that I just made up. I didn't take the bait and managed to make a rhubarb dish with no sugar, a little maple syrup but no sugar. I also took exception to the "sear scallops in hot pan" method. Lets see what I did.

The dish, the whole dish and nothing but the dish

Pan roasted sea scallops with coriander crust and a rhubarb glaze. Served a rhubarb, mango & jicama salad.

Let's break it down now

First thing I did was take about 8 nice stalks of rhubarb, wash and trim the ends then rough cut and put on a small sheet pan and into the freezer. After they were frozen, about 3 hours, I pulled the pan out and let them defrost on the pan. By freezing and thawing the fruit the cell walls collapse and are not capable of holding their liquid. Then I squeezed all the liquid out of the stringy defrosted rhubarb. Strain it, measure it and reduce by 2/3. I took three cups of rhubarb juice and reduced down to 1 cup. I added 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup and 7 to 10 shakes of fish sauce. Taste it, tart, a little sweet and slightly salty. You can do this up to 3 days ahead of time

Next Comes the Salad

I made a simple salad with equal parts julienne of rhubarb, jicama, mango and red bell pepper (remember always peel raw peppers). Tossed it with lime juice, maple sugar, veg oil, cracked coriander seed and chili powder. Taste it, add some chopped chives or parsley if you have some. This can be made a day ahead, no problem.

Scallop Technique

Make sure you purchased nice dry sea scallops and are free of grit and side muscle. They should feel sticky when you touch them. I used three scallops per person as a salad/app course. Crack 2 teaspoon coriander seed and 1 teaspoon black peppercorns and mix together. Dry the dry sea scallops with a paper towel and season the scallops with a little sea salt. Press the coriander mixture lightly onto both sides of the scallop. Heat a large sauté pan over medium low heat for 3 minutes. Add a tablespoon of veg oil, swirl around and dump out any excess oil. Add the scallops to the pan. They should sizzle slighty, better too low than too high a heat. Don't move them. Let them cook slowly for 60 to 90 seconds depending on how big. Flip the scallops and add 1 Tablespoon of unsalted butter for each order you are cooking. Then add 1 ounce of rhubarb reduction to the pan. Baste the scallops every 10 seconds or so with the juice and butter blend while they are cooking. The scallops will be moist, tender and not have the dreaded bullseye (over cooked on the outside with a raw center) you get from searing them to quickly on high heat. They will be cooked in about 2 minutes. Put the scallops on a warm plate while you add a drop of good white wine and whisk the sauce together. You only need 1 ounce of sauce per person. Taste and adjust. Need more salt? more butter? remember to envision the whole dish when you are tasting only one component of the plate.

basting means no bulls eye on those scallops

Put It All Together

This is easy. It Looks like a lot but with some planning and preparation it's doable by most home cooks. Here it is step by step.

• Preheat your pan and the small resting plate. Put the sea scallops, butter, oil, rhubarb juice and wine near the stove top.

• Layout your plates and put the rhubarb salad on the bottom 2/3 of the plate

• Cook the scallops and make the sauce

• Place the scallops on the salad, flare a little sauce and your viola! Time to eat. Check out the butter. This cultured butter is like crack. Don't try it and think you'll go back to regular old butter.

Here's what I used to make 4 orders

12 sea scallops

sea salt

1/2 cup of my rhubarb juice reduction concoction

4 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

2 teaspoons coriander seeds & 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns

1/2 mango, 1/4 of a jicama, 2 small rhubarb stalks and 1/2 red pepper for the salad

A handful of baby greens and some fresh chives

Thanks for reading to the bottom, enjoy! Gerry

hand squeezed rhubarb juice, you don't see that everyday. Stay tuned for my version of lemonade using rhubarb juice!

Comments

[sara]

yum! this looks super delicious. :)

[Gerry Nooney]

Thanks, hope you can give it a try. G

[Elaine - The Gourmet Girl]

Wishing you luck in tomorrow's battle.

[brendan]

That looks great. Crack- Butter? Now i 'm starving. Good luck Gerry.

[Ethan / Brake for Bread]

Your scallops look wonderful. Great job and good luck!

[Tina]

Great description of the cooking techniques and love the pic of the dish. Can't wait to get your rhubarb lemonade recipe. When life hands you rhubarb, make lemonade...

[Rosemary]

It looks so delicious and easy, I'll bet even I could make it.

[Trish0911]

I did as you asked and viewed them all first, and of course still voted for yours - looks yummy!!! Sadly, it knew when I tried to vote a second time....

[Natalie]

Gerry, these look wonderful! What a great use of scallops.

[Sara]

Awesome job. I love scallops!

[mary]

This dish looks amazing. Scallops are my favorite thing from the ocean.

[Chuck]

The picture does not do the flavor justice. This dish really does taste better than a professional food photographer's vision..

Great job.

[mandi]

rhubarb juice? how creative! makes me wonder what other veggies i could freeze/unfreeze/juice??? hehe

[Susan Dagenais]

Hi Ger,
These sound and look great! Good luck in the Iron Chef! You've got my vote!
Susan