SCALLOPS with CHORIZO RAGU 1 Serves 4 to 6. By Dennis W. Viau; modified from a recipe published in a restaurant trade journal. Scallops are expensive (if you buy the good fresh ones), but they are delicious. The chorizo ragu is spicy and hot. The sauce is so delicious I can envision it being used in many dishes. I made an herb polenta for this dish, from the same magazine. Ingredients: For the Ragu: 6 ounces (170g) chorizo, either beef or pork ½ large yellow or red onion; diced 1 stalk celery; diced ¼ cup (60ml) bourbon ¼ cup (60ml) dry sherry 1 garlic clove; minced 1 cup (240ml) chicken stock ¼ cup (60ml) marinara tomato sauce For the Polenta: 2 cups (475ml) chicken stock ½ teaspoon mixed herbs such as Herbs de Provence ½ cup (75g) corn meal, either yellow or white Salt and pepper to taste For the Scallops: 1 pound (454g) fresh sea scallops, dry packed (see below) Salt and pepper to season 1 tablespoon oil (peanut oil, corn oil, or safflower oil) 1 tablespoon clarified butter Directions: To make the ragu: Remove the chorizo from its plastic casing. Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high flame and sauté the chorizo 2 minutes. Add the diced onion, celery, garlic, and pepper. Cook about 3 minutes. Add bourbon and sherry. Reduce until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the chicken stock and reduce to about 1/3 its volume. Add the marinara and cook about 3 minutes. Adjust for salt, cover, and set aside. To make the polenta: Heat the stock in a large saucepan until boiling and then stir in the corn meal and the herbs. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook 10 to 15 minutes to desired consistency. Adjust for salt and pepper. Cover and set aside. To sear scallops: Dry the scallops with paper towels and season lightly with salt and pepper. Heat a large and heavy skillet over high flame. Add the oil and butter and heat just until you see the oil begin to smoke. The oil should be very hot. Carefully place the scallops, flat sides down, in the oil and do not move for at least 2 minutes. Check for browning. They should lightly brown. Turn the scallops over and sear the other side. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until barely cooked through. Do not overcook the scallops or they will become rubbery. Spoon polenta onto plates. Add 2 or 3 scallops on top and then garnish with chorizo ragu. Serve hot. 20120801
1 STEP-BY-STEP 2 This mise en place might make this dish look complicated. It isn t. The scallops aren t shown here because they are still carefully packed in ice, fresh from the fish market, and sitting in the refrigerator. You want the freshest scallops you can find. See below for more about the scallops. I am using clarified butter (the jar at lower-right) because regular butter contains water and milk solids here in the USA. The solids burn at high temperature. Clarified butter contains only the butter fat, not the water and solids. You clarify your own butter by melting it and skimming off the foam that floats to the surface and then spooning the clear fat into a jar, leaving behind any water gathered in the bottom of the pan. I typically clarify a pound (454g) at a time and keep it in the refrigerator. The stock shown here is homemade chicken stock. 2 Remove the chorizo from its plastic casing and break it up into a medium sauce pan. Sauté about 2 minutes.
3 3 Add the diced vegetables, garlic, and season with freshly ground black pepper. Sauté until lightly cooked, about 3 minutes. Ragu is a chunky sauce, as opposed to a smooth marinara. It typically contains chopped vegetables and/or meat. 4 Add the bourbon and sherry. Simmer to reduce the liquid until most of it has evaporated. Then add the chicken stock and reduce to about 1/3 its original volume. Finish by adding the marinara sauce and adjust for salt. Cook about 3 minutes, then cover and set aside. This sauce can be made a day in advance.
5 4 To make the polenta: Heat the stock in a large saucepan until it comes to a boil. Gradually add the corn meal, stirring to avoid lumps, and then stir in the herbs and black pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 15 minutes or until desired consistency. For this dish I wanted the polenta to have the consistency of mashed potatoes. Adjust for salt, cover, and set aside. 6 There is a lot to say about scallops here. The scallops you often see in the fish case at the grocery store are typically treated with a sodium tripolyphosphate solution that gives them a longer shelf life. The solution makes the scallops hold more liquid (which makes them weigh more so that they sell for more). These are usually called wet-pack scallops. When you try to sear them the liquid oozes out and, at best, you can only steam them. Dry-pack scallops are not treated. They sear more easily. Reliable fish stores usually sell fresh dry-pack scallops, but they are expensive. The ones above cost nearly $30 USD per pound, and there were only 8 scallops in a pound. Quick-frozen scallops will often suffice, thawed, because they are frozen soon after harvest, therefore not needing the sodium tripolyphosphate treatment. The ones shown here were dried on paper towels, then seasoned lightly with salt and pepper before searing.
7 5 Heat a large skillet over high flame. Here is where I wish I had one of those large and heavy cast iron skillets. Mine is aluminum and, as you see below, the scallops didn t sear as much as I would have liked. Add the oil and butter to your skillet and heat until the fat just begins to smoke. It must be hot. Then carefully place the scallops, without crowding the pan, in the hot oil. Don t move them or turn them. Let them sit for at least 2 minutes to sear. Then check one and turn them over when they are nicely browned. 8 The scallop in the lower-right is seared a little too much. The two at the top are perfect. The others could have been seared longer. A heavier skillet, not aluminum, would have helped.
9 6 To plate, spoon some of the polenta on a plate and then arrange two or three scallops on top. Finish by spooning plenty of the chorizo ragu over the top. Conclusion The flavor of this ragu really surprised me. It was so delicious, if a little too spicy hot for my tastes, I could imagine it in many dishes. I think it would work best with white fish dishes, especially if the fish can be grilled outdoors. If I were to use this sauce with a blackened salmon, I would put the sauce on the side and let guests spoon it onto their salmon. Notes Expect to pay a lot for good scallops. I experimented one time with the fresh scallops sold at the local warehouse store during one of their seafood events. They were awful. (I usually avoid their shrimp too, for the same reason.) I buy my scallops at a fish market that is located at the harbor where the fishing fleet moors their boats. The seafood is typically fresh off the boats, same-day catch. As mentioned above, these scallops were nearly $30 USD per pound. I don t know that it matters, but the original recipe called this sauce a ragout. My understanding is that ragout is a French stew. Ragu is a chunky sauce.