Thursday, July 26, 2007







Sea Scallops with Gooseberries

I headed out to Whole Foods, I had the need for Sea Scallops. Usually I buy fish for my personal use from the restaurant stock, because I know how fresh it is. Whole Foods is one of the few retail outlets where I will buy fish-(the other being Bob's Seafood). Whole Foods uses the same wholesaler that I do, Plitt Seafood. I know I've talked about them before, but their operation is still amazing to me. I seldom order Scallops for the restaurant, they don't seem to sell that well. I had in mind pairing them with some peaches or nectarines, but when I saw fresh gooseberries I changed strategies, knowing that the sour berries would be a perfect counterpoint to the scallops.

I first made a shellfish broth by steaming clams and mussels in wine with mirepoix. I reserved the clams and mussles and tossed them with remoulade and fresh chives and chilled them for a seperate salad.

I tossed the gooseberries into the shellfish broth with a bit of cream and reduced it slightly. I seasoned the sauce with some cayenne (always cayenne with seafood) and a teaspoon of sugar-I know that sounds heretical, but those berries are so tart that a bit of sugar adds some ying to the yang. I also like the colors of this dish the orange of the carrot, the green of the gooseberry and the white scallops with browned edges.

1 comment:

Kevin said...

GOOSEBERRIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I have to add that to the list of things we don't have in Texas (good tomatos and corn are the top of the list)

What an incredible looking dish! Of course, the worst scallop and/or gosseberry I've ever had...was good!! I would die for a gooseberry pie. And those gooseberries looked the size of grapes!!! All I've ever seen were the size of blueberries, and small ones at that.

Excellent work cuz!!!!