I haven’t celery rave in a long time, for no specific reason, maybe because I don’t enjoy peeling it. is that a good enough reason? maybe not.

In France we eat celery rave a lot, mainly in rémoulade. Rémoulade is grated celery with mayonnaise, so a big word for something quite simple. In this recipe, I combined it with the sweetness of fennel and scallops.

I have noticed that many Americans don’t like fennel nor liquorice, so if you belong to the fennel-haters category, you can replace it with thinly sliced zucchini and instead of fennel, you can use cumin seeds.

I have been making some mango vinegar and playing with it on some recipes other than salads, and I really like it on seafood.

When cooking the scallops, always add salt at the end, otherwise if added while cooking, the scallops won’t turn brown and will form water. Also, when browning scallops, make sure the butter won’t burn. If it does burn, you need to discard it and use fresh butter. Or alternatively, filter the sauce at the end, so that the sauce looks smooth with no butter residue.

Ingredients for 2

For the celery root purée

• 2 small heads of celery, peeled and diced (1 inch)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp onion, chopped
• vegetable broth
• 1 tbs heavy cream
• salt and pepper

For the braised fennel

• 1 tbs onion, finely diced
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 large fennel bulb, shaved with a mandoline
• juice of 1 orange
• salt and pepper

For the scallops

• about 5 grams butter
• 4 large scallops (fresh not frozen)
• 1 tsp honey
• 3 tbs mango vinegar
• Fleur de sel

Preparation

For the celery root purée

Heat olive oil in a pan and add onion, let them sweat and add celery root. Cover with broth and let cook until absorbed and until celery is tender. You might need to use more broth in the process. Adjust with salt. Mash with a potatoe masher and add cream. Stir well and keep mashing until smooth and homogeneous.

For the braised fennel

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add onions and fennel and let it cook until fragrant but not until the onion turns golden brown.Add fennel and orange juice, salt and pepper. Cover and let cook at slow heat until orange juice absorbed and fennel tender. Keep warm.

For the scallops

Melt butter in a pan. Add scallops and cook on both sides until golden brown, about 2 minutes each side. Remove from pan and keep warm. Add honey, stir well and deglaze with mango vinegar and stir well.

Using a rind, place purée at the bottom of the plate. Add fennel on top and scallops at the end. Drizzle scallops with fleur de sel. Pour sauce around or on top of scallops and serve hot. You might want to have your plates warmed up before plating.

Summer is gone already but I have a hard time switching my mood for fall…I love summer and its long day light, its products and the vacation spirit. Fall has its own character like every other season but I am not looking forward to winter. I don’t know why but I have not been in the soup mood for a long time nor have I been in the mood for seafood. I guess it all goes by phases. In my case, the less I eat something, the less I want to eat it.

I thought a kale soup would be the perfect dish to celebrate fall, it’s such a wonderful ingredient and so versatile, it can be prepared in so many different ways. This recipe combines two lovely ingredients, lacinato kale (or cavolo nero in Italian) and sea scallops. It might be the new trend to eat kale in the US, but in Europe it’s been consumed for ages. Usually trends don’t last, they come and go, so I hope kale is here to stay on the shelves.

For the next two weeks, I will be experimenting new recipes like this one, so I am quite excited to get extra time to play in the kitchen. You can also serve this soup in small glasses as a little appetizer.

Ingredients for 2

For the soup

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 leek chopped
• 1 small yam, peeled and cubed
• 2 bunches kale, stems removed and chopped
• vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

For the sea scallops (3 each)

• 6 scallops
• toasted sesame seeds
• dried thyme
• salt and pepper
• olive oil for drizzling

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add onion, leeks and yams. Let it cook stiring for about 10 minutes until fragrant. Add kale and cover with broth. Just a bit below kale level. Cook for about 25 minutes until tender. Adjust with salt and pepper. Blend with a hand blender or mixer. If it’s too thick add water or broth.

Mix sesame seeds and thyme together. Coat the scallops on both sides (you can also dip scallops in egg whites before) and using a grill pan, grill on both sides until cooked (two to three minutes per side approximately). Adjust with salt and pepper.

Serve scallops on soup, drizzle with olive oil and extra sesame seeds.

A good friend of mine is half Basque, so one day, while browsing through her cookbooks, I found a very interesting book on Basque cuisine, written by Gerald Hirigoyen, an amazing Basque chef who owns a few restaurants in San Francisco, among which Bocadillos and Piperade.

One particular recipe really caught my attention just because I never saw lychees in Basque cuisine; Litchi (or lychee) is an Asian fruit, mainly grown in China and is considered a tropical fruit for us. In France, you can find lychees almost anywhere and we eat a lot of them, but only as a fruit; it’s mainly sold during winter time, and I have never really seen it incorporated into a main course.

The natural sweetness of scallops blends beautifully with fruits, and I could not stop thinking about this recipe…I finally decided to give it a try, but twisting things around a little, changed a few ingredients and added some cayenne pepper, it  gave the dish a little kick and I love it. I will definitely serve it again when I have a dinner party.

The gazpacho is slightly fruity but not too sweet and very smooth, when combined with the crunchiness of the cucumber is a perfect harmony of textures.

The scallops need to be very fresh, I used the jumbo ones, make sure to pat them dry, to remove all excess water, so they are able to brown well.

Ingredients for 4

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 English cucumbers, peeled
• 12 lychees
• 1 large tomato, peeled, cored and diced
• cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tbs
• 8 large scallops
• 1 tbs mint chiffonade
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Bring balsamic vinegar to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for about 10 minutes, until the vinegar has reduced to a syrup consistency. Set aside.

Cut half of the cucumber in half lengthwise, remove seeds and chop one half. Using a mandoline, julienne the other half to form some spaghetti strands with the cucumber. Throw away the seeds. Place julienne in a bowl and sprinkle with salt, toss to coat and set aside for 15 minutes.

Peel lychee and remove the seed. In a blender, combine lychees, tomato, chopped cucumber, lemon juice, cayenne, olive oil, salt and pepper. Process to obtain a smooth consistency. Cover and refrigerate.

Rub scallops on both sides with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a griddle or cast-iron skillet and saute scallops over high heat, for about 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Divide lychee gazpacho among 4 plates. Rinse julienne cucumber with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Toss with mint and place some in the center of the gazpacho. Mount with two scallops in the center and drizzle with balsamic reduction.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/07/an-exotic-gazpacho-scallops-with-lychee-gazpacho/feed/ 27 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/05/as-chic-as-a-chanel-dress-sea-scallop-on-green-apple-with-vanilla-oil/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=as-chic-as-a-chanel-dress-sea-scallop-on-green-apple-with-vanilla-oil http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/05/as-chic-as-a-chanel-dress-sea-scallop-on-green-apple-with-vanilla-oil/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 04:09:36 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=10417 Aussi chic qu’une robe Chanel – St jacques à la pomme verte et huile de vanille

I have been obsessing about this green apple/scallop combination for weeks, and could not come up with something that I would be excited about. Raw apple? cooked apple? diced? sliced? not sure how I wanted to make it work. I have seen many recipes with scallop and green apple but it was not what I wanted, I just wanted something fresh and not to have some kind of apple sauce. I needed to have my favorite ingredient vanilla in it. So I knew there would be vanilla oil. Sometimes when developing a recipe, you have to think about it for weeks and think about it progressively, like it needs to mature in your mind. The key ingredients here are the green apple and vanilla oil.

Granny smith and sea scallop are becoming somehow a trendy combination in French cuisine and more chefs are serving this beautiful and elegant concoction….and this for a good reason, it’s a magnificent combination of flavors. The acidity of the granny smith marries to perfection with fish. When I started to cook, I was more traditional in my cuisine but with time going by, it evolved into a more eclectic fusion of tastes. I still enjoy traditional cuisine, but love to explore new flavors, and this one is a perfect example of this new exploration.

In new contemporary French cuisine, you are starting to see more fruits combined with fish, everything tastes extremely fresh, has a very low cooking time, and is an exuberance of wonderful flavors. I think with the weather getting warmer, and more wonderful summer fruits coming on the shelves, I will do more exploration.

I simply adore this recipe, I adore the granny smith acidity combined with a little honey and lime, I adore the vanilla oil, the moist sea scallops, the Szechuan pepper, I love just about every little aspect of this dish. The absolute winning part of it, is that it’s ready in 10 minutes (of course you need to infuse vanilla in olive oil overnight), and the rest happens magically.

Sea scallop is such a wonderful ingredient, you don’t need to dress it up with spices, or a lot of add on. Nature did a wonderful job in making them naturally delicious, their natural sweetness is simply a pure delight.

Ingredients for 4 (as a small bite)

• 4 large scallops
• 2 medium size granny smith apples, peeled and grated
• 1 tsp butter + 1 tbs butter
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped and infused in olive oil overnight
• 4 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 1 lime juice
• 1 lime zest
• Szechuan pepper
• salt

Preparation

First start preparing the vanilla oil by scraping the beans and adding it along with the rest of the pod to the olive oil. Place in a airtight container and let it infuse overnight.

Grate the apple and remove extra juice. Add 1 tsp of lime juice to prevent the pulp from staining. Add honey and salt.

Pat dry scallops on high heat and saute in 1 tbs butter until both sides turn golden brown, but still moist in the middle.

Melt 1 tsp butter in a small pan, then add apple for 30 seconds, just to warm it up.

Remove scallops, adjust with salt and Szechuan pepper. Place 2 tbs of apple mixture in small individual plates, add one scallop on top and drizzle with vanilla oil. Decorate with lime zests.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/05/as-chic-as-a-chanel-dress-sea-scallop-on-green-apple-with-vanilla-oil/feed/ 30 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/03/ocean-terrine-scallops-and-shrimp-terrine-with-herbs-and-asparagus-ribbons-in-vinaigrette/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ocean-terrine-scallops-and-shrimp-terrine-with-herbs-and-asparagus-ribbons-in-vinaigrette http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/03/ocean-terrine-scallops-and-shrimp-terrine-with-herbs-and-asparagus-ribbons-in-vinaigrette/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:19:10 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=8242 Terrine de la mer parfumée – Terrine de St Jacques et crevettes aux herbes – rubans d’asperges en vinaigrette

I am fascinated by the world of terrines, like most French, we love terrines, and what is more French than a terrine? really maybe baguette? they can be refined and elegant, beautiful, rustic, and so versatile, so why don’t I make them more often? well I don’t know…besides when you have guests, they can be prepared in advance so a great appetizer to consider for a dinner party or even buffet parties.

When people think of terrines, they think meat, which is a misconception, even if yes meat based terrines tend to be more known and traditional, fish and vegetables terrines are something incredibly delicious, elegant and light. All the flavors are mixed together to perfection and so delightful on toasted bread.

To make a perfect terrine that will stay together and that will not fall apart, you always need bread crumb (the white part), eggs and cream which are the best “liants” meaning ingredients that hold things together. You always need to butter the sides of the loaf pan or mold so that it will not stick to the bottom, and finally the terrine needs to rest in the refrigerator for at least one day before savoring it.

Ingredients for 3-6 people

For the terrine

• 10 oz (or 300 g) scallops
• 7 oz (or 200 g shrimps), shells removed + 6 shrimps whole, shells removed
• 3 eggs
• 5 fl oz (or 100 ml) heavy cream
• 3 slices of white bread, crust removed and ground
• 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tbs dill, finely chopped
• 1 tbs chives, finely chopped
• salt and pepper

For the asparagus éffilochée

• 1 bunch asparagus, sliced lengthwise with a potato peeler
• 1 shallot, finely shopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the terrine

In a blender mix scallops and shrimps (except for the 6 shrimps), do not mix too fine, there need to be some small pieces of scallops and shrimps. Remove and transfer to a mixing bowl.

Clean the blender and add bread to make crumbs.

In a mixing bowl, add eggs and cream, add crumbs and herbs. Mix well. Adjust with salt and pepper.

Mix ground seafood with egg/cream mixture.

Butter a terrine pot, or loaf pan. Add half of the mixture, then place 6 shrimps in the middle, then pour the rest of the mixture on top. Cover with lid, or with aluminum foil airtight.

Cook in in a double boiler in a pre-heated oven for 1 hour. Let it cool, and place in the refrigerator for one day. Serve with asparagus and toasted bread.

For the asparagus

Slice aspargus with a potato peeler. Cook in salted water for 2-3 minutes. Place in a water bowl with ice cubes. Let them cool.

Prepare the vinaigrette, mixing all ingredients together. Toss vinaigrette with the asparagus.

When two friends reunite around a huge pot of brodetto, it’s always a memorable evening…especially when both of them are craving fish and seafood.

I grew up eating brodetto, my mom’s favorite. The city of Fano in Italy and that particular region, being on the Adriatic Coast  is well known for their seafood dishes and brodetto is one of them. Brodo means broth so, brodetto being a diminutive, means small broth, the fish is not drowned in liquid nor in heavy tomato sauce, like some stews you can eat at some restaurants, there is enough broth to dip bread but it’s not soaking in it.

Brodetto is very famous in Marche region of Italy Usually for a traditional brodetto, you need at least 12 different kinds of fish and shell fish but mainly the kind you can only find in the Adriatic sea such as “triglie, “teste grosse”, “rospo”, “trofano”, etc… which I don’t know the equivalent in English. There was somehow a limitation of fish available so I somehow used fishes I could find but the brodetto ended up being quite delicious. You need extra fresh and top quality fish, that will make a big difference. The quality and ripeness of the tomatoes are also very important, so if you don’t have top ripe tomatoes, you can use imported can tomatoes such as San Marzano, but if they’re whole, you’ll need to crush them ino a purée.

I used balsamic vinegar, that’s why my broth is a little darker, nonetheless delicious, balsamic vinegar being a little sweet gave the broth a very distinct flavor. A clay pot is perfect to cook this type of dish, it allows all the flavors to infuse beautifully together.

For Italian speakers, you can read this website “L’Academia del brodetto” where they somehow explain the differences between brodetti made in different regions and listing the best restaurants serving brodetto, so in case you find yourself in Italy on the Adriatic Coast, you can go and try the best restaurants serving brodetto…of course if you are crazy about sea food like I am.

Ingredients for 4-6

• 1 large cod fillet
• 1 large sole fillet
• 1 lb mussels
• about 20 large shrimps
• 1/2 lb squid
• 12-16 crayfish (preferably whole)
• 12 large sea scallops
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 glass white vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar)
• 5 well ripe tomatoes, seedless, peeled and crushed in a purée
• 3 tbs parsley finely chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a clay pot preferably, heat olive oil, then add onion slices and let them cook slowly until they become soft and almost caramelized, add garlic and stir, cook for 5 minutes without burning the garlic. Add vinegar and let it reduce. Add parsley. Mix well – Add tomatoes and let the mixture reduce and thicken.

When the sauce has reduced, add squid cook for 5 minutes, then add fish, let it cook for 5 extra minutes, and add shell fish at the end. Adjust with salt and pepper. The mussels are cooked last, after adding mussels, cover with lid and remove from heat when the mussels have opened. Mix broth carefully. The fish needs to be cooked but not overcooked. The vinegar will prevent the fish from breaking apart.

Serve in deep dishes with slices of country bread.

I bought so many different kinds of those cuillères (spoons) while in France, which was not really a necessity since they are also available in the US, but my mom shoved them in my suitcase because she said her house is filled with stuff I buy and then I leave at her house, so the closet in my bedroom is filled with kitchen utensils and all kinds of gadgets that I have been accumulated over the years. I am a real pack rat. I still have my own bedroom with clothes and a few teddy bears since my parents still live in the house where I was born and raised (well I was born at the maternity to be clear not in the house), so I guess the “pack-ratting” activity is inevitable.

Today I finally decided to use those cuillères. In France, apéro à la cuillère (spoon apéritifs) is quite in fashion and most home cooks and restaurants use them as their favorite ways to serve hors d’oeuvres. Besides I think they’re really elegant on a table, and easy to prepare. They’re seriously ready in a blink of an eye.

Enough of savory muffins, quiches, etc… and all those heavy appetizers that make you feel already stuffed before dinner. Those are so quick to make, that it’s not even funny…and incredibly delicious, fresh, zesty and so light. I think you know by now that light is a key word for me, as long as a dish is light and flavorful, send it my way.

I bought some mangoes because my new little parrotlet Lilou loves mango, I am trying to discover what fruits and vegetables he likes, and it seems like mangoes, carrots and kale are on the list (wondering if it has to do with the color), so I bought a lot of mangoes, as if he will eat two pounds of mango in a few days. I guess I will have to help him out, and more mango recipes are coming shortly.

I am not really a huge fan of mixing sweet and salty flavors together, it’s not too common in French or Italian cuisine and it took me a while to combine them together. Some fruits are used like orange, apples, plums, etc…in game meat but it’s not too common. The mixture of scallops and mangoes has been something I have been thinking about for a while. I made grilled halibut with mango and red bell pepper salsa that I really enjoyed, so I thought sea scallops would work as well, but I didn’t want to bury the natural scallop’s sweet flavor and add too many ingredients like red bell pepper, red onion, etc…

You can either grill the scallops or sauté them in a pan with a little butter and If you don’t have those spoons, no worries, you can serve two or three scallops in a small plate. Et voilà, aucun problème!

Ingredients for about 10 spoons

• 10 medium sized scallops (they need to fit in the spoon)
• 1 mango, not too ripe (2/3 diced in small cubes, 1/3 grated)
• 1 blood orange, half peeled in quarters and cubed, the other half juiced
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• cayenne pepper
• 1.5 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp orange champagne vinegar (or raspberry vinegar)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First peel mango, cut 2/3 of the mango in small cubes 1/3 inch thick. Place in a bowl.

Peel orange, separate the quarters and remove the membrane. Cut a few quarters in small pieces and add to the mango.

In another bowl, grate the rest of the mango, add olive oil, vinegar, juice of 1/2 blood orange, orange pieces, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Grill or saute scallops in a pan until browned on both sides.

Place a few mango dices and orange pieces in each spoon, add a litte vinaigrette. Add scallops on top, and spoon additional vinaigrette on top.

I finally received my mom’s package, it only took six days which is really not much. I was expecting it and was wondering if they would open it at the customs but it arrived intact.

I was not sure of what she put in there! lots of my favorite goodies. She even included my dry soup sticks, the Maggie Sveltesse (my sinful soup sticks but with 50 calories per soup, let’s not be too tough on them), Lavazza Espresso to get me even more wired than I actually am, chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates, cosmetics to make sure life in the US does not give me wrinkles…and of course some foie gras, thing that I don’t eat, she doesn’t really care, she just will send foie gras every year, even though I asked her to NOT include it, she included it any way. I can always serve it when my friends come over for dinner, since I believe it’s no longer allowed in California…I am not going to develop further the fois gras production topic and people are free to eat whatever they want. I just have a tough time with cruelty towards animals for whatever purpose it is. So yes, fois gras is a delicacy and part of French gastronomy, I think it’s just so cruel to stuff those poor geese, make them sick and eat their liver. Sorry to be a little crude, but basically, it comes down to that.

I decided to slow down on carbs, but I got those Farfalline Haute Couture, so I had no other choice than cook them. Yes, you can change your mind sometimes. They’re too pretty…I had some shrimps and a bunch of beautiful leeks which were perfect for those little butterflies. In Italian, they’re called “farfalle” and in French “papillon” which mean “butterflies” not “bow tie”, which would be way too long “noeud papillon” (= butterfly nod). Le papillon ne s’est pas envolé, il a juste atterri dans mon assiette!

I adore this pasta dish, the leek cream with seafood is absolutely fantastic. It’s creamy but yet not the kind of “Creamy” you get when you add cream to a dish, but very flavorful and velvety creamy without the heaviness of a cream.

Ingredients for 2

• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) farfalline or other squid ink pasta
• 2 leeks
• 1/3 cup broth
• 6 large scallops cut in 4 or 24 small scallops
• 8 large shrimps, cut in 3
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut leeks in small slices crosswise, wash well. In a pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, add 1 garlic clove, stir for one minute or so, then add leeks, cook for a few minutes, then add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook until the leeks are tender. Leave about 1 tbs of leeks aside to add at the end. Mix the remaining leeks in a blender to obtain a creamy consistency. If the leeks are too think, add extra broth.

In a pan, heat 1 tsp olive oil, then add diced seafood, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes, then add 1 garlic clove. At that point, you’ll have some liquid in the pan. Add the liquid to the leeks. Continue sauteing the seafood until cooked, but not over cook it, or the scallops will turn rubbery.

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, place in a mixing bowl, add half of the leek sauce, mix well.

Serve in a plate, spoon extra leek sauce around the pasta, top it with seafood and extra leeks. Sprinkle with a little extra olive oil and serve hot.

Heat up leeks to keep it warm.

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