Ingredients
- For the Coquille:
- 1 bag of frozen scallops
- 1 big red onion
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1 egg (only the yolk)
- 100 grams of chopped green onions
- 500 grams of mashed potatoes
- 250 grams of grated gruyere cheese
- 100 grams of cooked bacon (optional)
- 2 spoon of olive oil
- salt to taste
- For the sides:
- 8 small sweet peppers
- 1/2 cups of chopped black olives
- 2 cups of vegetable broth
- 1 cup of quinoa
- salt to taste
Preparation
Cook the diced onion (small bits) in a pan with the olive oil until the onion bits are tender and sweet. Keep the fire at medium and precook the unfrozen scallops by putting on the pan for two minutes each side. Remove the scallops from the pan and add the heavy cream. The cream should not boil, so keep fire between medium and low. Add salt to the taste. (Notice that scallops are typically salty, so you might want the cream mixture to be slightly lower in salt to the final desired level of salt).
In a separated bowl preheat the egg yolk by adding a small spoon of the hot heavy cream and steering it vigorously. Add a second spoon of hot heavy cream and continue steering. (This procedure will prevent the egg to get cooked when added to the hot content of the pan). Then, add the yolk-cream mixture to the pan and keep steering the mixture at medium or low fire until the mixture is thick enough to resemble a gravy. (This might take 15 to 25 minutes!)
In deep oven proof dishes, create a base of mash potato in each dish. Put two or three precooked scallops in each dish on top of the mash potato base. If you are using bacon, sprinkle each dish with small bacon bits. Mix half of the green onions with the heavy cream mixture and pour the mixture on top of the scallops and mash potato base, trying to cover all the dish content with the cream. Add the grated gruyere cheese on top of the cream and put the dishes into the oven at 350F for 15 minutes. (You might want to cook for three more minutes at higher the oven temperature of 450F at the end to make the cheese crust more crunchy).
Wash the quinoa on a mesh strainer under cold running water for few seconds. Heat the vegetable broth in a pan until boil. When boiling, add the quinoa, salt to the taste and steer for one to two minutes. Lower down the fire to medium low until all quinoa has absorbed the liquid and is cooked throughfully. On a large skillet, grill the small sweet pepers at high fire, turning them over once in a while, until the peppers are soft and tender.
Take the coquille dishes out of the oven and set aside for five minutes to cool down. Sprinkle the dishes with the other half of the chopped green onions. Place the dishes in larger plates and serve the quinoa and peppers at the sides. Top the quinoa with the chopped black olives.
Additional Information
Servings and Preparation Time. This recipe serves 4 persons and requires about 40 to 60 minutes to be prepared.
Pairing suggestions. Best if served with a glass of Pinot Grigio. If preferred with red wine, it is also enjoyable with Pinot Noir.