Roasted scallops coated with hazelnut crumbs

 Recipe from chef patrick

Ingredients :
One recipe of our menu 'special end of the year celebrations'.

(for 8 servings if part of a sampling menu or for 4 if a starter :

24 nice scallops (without the red coral)
For the hazelnutcrumbs coating :
50 grams of hazelnut powder
30 grams of potatoe starch
1 soupspoon of olive oil
table salt and black pepper
2 peeled and seedless tomatoes, cut into small cubes ('mirepoix')
2 de-germed, crushed and chopped cloves of garlic
10 cored black olives
A little thyme flower
16 mini blinis (the smallest as possible),
table salt, freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
For the lemon cream :
1 large cup of liquid cream
5 gram of powder of curcuma
50 grams of capers
the juice of 1/2 lemon

Direction :
The preparation of this recipe is very quick ; before the meal, you will have already prepared the sauce you will keep hot in a 'bain marie', the tomatoe purée will be ready in a small saucepan and the oven will be pre-heated at 350°F to heat the blinis.
You will then only have to cook the scallops (3 minutes) and to put them on service dishes (the whole will only take 6 to 7 minutes).

1/ In a small saucepan, heat 1 soupspoon of olive oil, then add the tomatoe cubes, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and let it cook covered with a lid during 10 minutes. Then, add the black olives cut in big pieces and keed the whole out of the heat.
2/ Prepare the lemon cream : in a small saucepan, pour the cream and the lemon juice, add little salt and reduce to half quantity ; then add the curcuma (or saffron) and the capers and keep in a hot 'bain marie'.
3/ Prepare the hazelnutcrumbs coating :
In a salad bowl, blend the hazelnut powder with the starch, add salt and pepper and put on a dish.
4/ When it is time to go to the dining room, pour 1/2 liter of olive oil in a dish and heat a non adhesive frying pan with little olive oil. Put you scallops in the olive oil of the dish then in the hazelnut crumbs and roast them in the hot frying pand during 2 minutes on each side and put the scallops aside.
This preparation step must be done very quickly so that the scallops stay hot.

Service : pour some lemon cream into the bottom of each individual service dish, 3 scallops at the perimeter of the dish and, on the middle of the dish, a little blini topped with a spoon of tomatoe purée and a second blini so that both blinis look like an open scallop shell.

The textures, the slight acidity brought by the lemon cream and the slightly sugared taste of the scallops will bring you a moment of happiness.

You will not find this recipe in any book : I have created it only for the loyal visitors of our site 'aftouch-cuisine.com'...