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Fricassée de Saint-Jacques, Crème & Champagne
Seared scallops in a champagne cream sauce over linguine
45 min
Serves 6
Intermediate
Scallops & pasta
- 18 scallops (keep the skirts for the sauce)
- 400 g dried linguine
- 200 g mushrooms
Champagne sauce
- 50 g butter
- 3 shallots
- 37 cl champagne
- 75 g crème fraîche épaisse
- 1 egg yolk
- chervil or chives, and a little lemon (zest and juice), optional
A festive seafood pasta. The sauce is built on the scallop skirts, shallots and champagne, reduced and finished with crème fraîche. The linguine are tossed through it, then topped with seared scallops and mushrooms kept a little crunchy. Serve it straight away.
Method
Champagne sauce
- Chop the shallots and sweat them in the butter without letting them colour. Add the scallop skirts (bardes), then deglaze with the champagne and reduce gently.
Garnish
- Pan-fry the mushrooms in butter, keeping some crunch, and set aside on a rack. Cook the linguine al dente in lightly salted water, drain and reserve.
Finish the sauce
- Strain the reduction. Whisk in the crème fraîche and a little lemon juice. Off the heat, whisk in the egg yolk to enrich and lightly bind, without letting it boil.
Assemble
- Heat the plates. Sear the scallops in a hot pan, season, and set aside. Reheat the mushrooms in the same pan. Toss the linguine in the champagne sauce to coat them well.
- Divide the linguine among the hot plates, add the mushrooms, then the scallops, and spoon the extra sauce over. Finish with chopped chervil or chives and a little lemon zest. Serve immediately.
Background
Do not waste the scallop skirts. Sweated with shallots and reduced with the champagne, they give the sauce its body and a clean shellfish flavour.
Keep the mushrooms on the crunchy side and sear the scallops hard and fast, so nothing turns rubbery while you plate.
Mistakes I've Made
- Boiling after the yolk. The egg yolk enriches the sauce off the heat. Let it boil and it scrambles.
- Overcooking the scallops. A minute a side is plenty. They keep cooking on the hot plate.
Sources
- Fricassée de Saint-Jacques crème et champagne —