Pan-Seared Scallops with Mushrooms and Cream Sauce

By á-25244

Pan-Seared Scallops with Shi’itake
Mushrooms and Ginger/Saffron-Infused Cream Sauce
This makes a lovely first course, or a main course in a larger meal. The saffron gives the sauce an elegant golden color.

Ingredients

• An original recipe from Brian Gorman
• 8 - 10 shi’itake mushrooms (or their porcini, morel or related equivalent in taste and weight)
• 1 TBS grated fresh ginger
• 1 TBS minced shallot
• 1/2 tsp saffron
• 8-10 oz fresh spinach
• 8 - 12 oz heavy cream
• 1/4 cup dry sherry such as Amontillado
• 2 TBS minced parsley
• 8 sea scallops, untreated with tri-sodium phosphate (see note below)
• butter
• oil
• salt
• white pepper

Details

Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 45mins

Preparation

Step 1

The Infusion

Reserve two or three mushrooms, but remove their stems. Chop the stems as well as the stems and caps of the remaining mushrooms into a fine dice. In a small, heavy-bottom saucepan, bring the sherry and about a cup of the cream to the simmer and add the chopped mushrooms and stems along with the shallot and ginger. Simmer very gently, partly covered, for about 10 - 15 minutes, swirling every minute or two to prevent a skin from forming on the cream and to forestall scorching. If the cream seems to be getting too thick, dilute it with a spoonful or so of fresh cream as it simmers.

When the cream is properly infused pour it through a fine strainer into a small bowl, pressing the residual cream out of the favoring vegetables. Discard the vegetables and immediately crumble all the saffron into the cream. Pour the cream back into the saucepan, cover it and let the saffron infuse.

The Spinach

While the cream is simmering, prepare the mushrooms and spinach. Thoroughly wash the spinach in several changes of water until no sand remains behind. Remove the thick stems from the larger leaves. Shake off most of the water, but don’t spin off or pat dry all the water; some is needed to cook the spinach. In a pot large enough to just hold all the spinach, heat ~1 TBS butter until it begins to foam. Add all the wet spinach to the pot, stir momentarily to coat with butter and cover. Reduce heat to medium and cook about two minutes until the spinach wilts and collapses. Immediately remove the spinach and hold in a separate bowl lined with several thicknesses of paper towels to absorb the water the spinach will exude.

The Mushrooms

Slice the remaining mushroom caps about 1/4 inch thick. If the mushroom caps are big (>2 inches) cut them in half before slicing. In a medium sauté pan, heat 1 TBS butter and 1 TBS oil until the butter froths. Add the mushrooms, toss for a moment to coat with oil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook, covered, for about 5 - 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the mushrooms are done, uncover, and toss for a moment over high heat to drive off any liquid, if necessary. Remove the mushrooms to a separate bowl to rest, uncovered.

Ahead -of-time note. All three of the above operations can be carried hours ahead of final assembly. When the items are cool, cover them and refrigerate until you’re ready to complete the dish.



The Scallops

Thoroughly dry the scallops with paper towels. They won’t sear properly if they have any adhering moisture. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Heat a heavy-bottomed sauté pan large enough to hold all the scallops without crowding. When the pan is hot add a TBS or two of oil and when the oil starts to shimmer, just before it begins to smoke, place the scallops, flat side down, on the pan. Don’t crowd them. (If you’re doubling the recipe, you’ll probably have to do the scallops in two batches.) Reduce the heat to medium-high and sauté undisturbed for 1-2 minutes. Using tongues turn the scallops over and cook 1-2 minutes on the other side. They should become a nice golden brown, about the color of toast. Don’t overcook them or they will toughen. When pressed they should just begin to have lost their sponginess and feel slightly springy.

Remove the scallops to a side dish and keep warm, uncovered, in a 120-degree oven, while you make the sauce.

Finishing the Sauce

Add to the flavored cream in its saucepan any liquid that the scallops may have thrown off. Reheat the sauce, simmering it for a few minutes until it’s the consistency of heavy cream. If the sauce seems too thick, add some more fresh cream; if it’s too thin, continue simmering for another minute or so. When the sauce is the desired consistency, add the sautéed mushrooms and minced parsley and stir, off heat, to warm the mushrooms. Taste carefully and correct seasonings.

Just before plating, melt 1TBS of butter in a small sauté pan until it foams and add the cooked spinach, tossing for a few moments to reheat it and to drive off any lingering moisture; the spinach must not be soggy. Season it with salt and pepper.

Plating

Make a base of spinach by spreading one-third of it over one side of each plate. Arrange three of the scallops on the spinach to form a V, with the point at the edge of the plate. Lay the fourth scallop against the center of the V. Spoon half the sauce and mushrooms over the scallops and spinach on each plate. Serve immediately.


NOTE: Some scallops are dipped in an FDA-approved chemical called tri-sodium phosphate, or TSP. It is supposed to help the scallops retain their natural moisture, so they don’t lose weight during shipping. It actually causes them to absorb water, however. This means (a) you’re paying for water (typically from the ice they may rest on) that the scallops absorbed after shucking and, more important, (b) when you try to sauté the scallops they exude their stored water and are impossible to brown before they are cooked. Treated scallops, even when they are patted dry before cooking, exude a considerable amount of moisture when they are sautéed, producing a steamed rather than a sautéed meat. Untreated scallops, without TSP, do not weep or produce any liquid at all when they are sautéed and brown nicely. In fact, untreated, fresh scallops should be dry to the touch, although untreated scallops that have been previously frozen may need to be blotted dry before sautéing. When you buy sea scallops (or bay scallops, for that matter) that you plan on sautéing, ask your grocer or fish monger to check the shipping container to see if says that TSP has been added. By law, if the scallops are TSP-treated the shipping label has to say so. If you’re going to use the scallops in a stew or chowder, whether the scallops will brown or not is irrelevant and TSP treatment doesn’t matter, so you can buy either kind.

BTW, if you buy what you are told are untreated scallops (TSP free) and they exude lots of water during sautéing, go back to the store where you bought them and tell the fish monger he is a lying ho’.