Association Culinaire Française promoting French culinary arts in the UK

Recipes

Recipe Archives

• Pan fried sea bass and fennel pollen sauce
• Black currant paste and fresh berries
• Tomatoes Carpaccio, liquid mozzarella and olives

This month's recipe:

Baked Scallops with a Ginger Bread Crust And Butternut Squash Puree

Created by: Anthony Ekizian

Baked scallops

For 4 people

Market

For the ginger bread crust:

• 150g of sugar
• 150g of honey
• 5g of ginger
• 5g of cinnamon powder
• 5g nutmeg powder
• 5g of 5 spices mix
• 375g of flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 2 tsp of baking soda
• 250ml of milk
• 100g of unsalted butter
• 250g for the crust



For the butternut:

• 1kg butternut
• 100ml of chicken stock
• 50g crème fraiche



For the sauce

• 150ml of veal or chicken jus
• 1 tbs of rd wine vinegar
• 50g of smoke or unsmoked Pancetta, depending on your taste

Method

Ginger bread

1. In a casserole heat the honey, sugar and all the spices until everything is well melted and incorporated.
2. In a separate casserole bring to a boil the milk and butter together then add the honey mixture to it.
3. In a bowl add all the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth.
4. Pour into a greased lined loaf tin. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 35 minutes, until deep golden and firm to the touch.
5. Leave to cool in the tin and turn it out on a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Then dice and let it dry in the oven at 60 degrees for 1 hour or 2.
7. When you have a very dry ginger bread put in a robot-coup and blend it until you get a crumbled powder.



The crust

8. Make 'beurre pomade' with the butter and mix 250g of the ginger bread powder, wrap it in cling film, give it a boudin shape of a 1cm diameter and put it in the fridge to become solid.



The butternut squash

9. Peel the squash, separate it in 2, take the superior part that is cylindrical.
10. Slice 12 x 1.5 cm thick wheels from it and give them the shape wanted with a fluted cutter and keep aside.
11. Clean the rest of the squash, but keep the seed, rinse them and roast in a pan, keep aside.
12. Dice the rest of the squash, heat a bit of olive oil in a saucepan add the diced squash, sweat without colouring then add the chicken stock and simmer until the squash is very tender.
13. Transfer to a blender and blend to a smooth puree, adding the crème fraiche, season to taste and keep warm.



The sauce

14. Make very small dice of the pancetta and sauté them until golden brown, deglaze with the vinegar then add your jus and reduce to 2/3 until thickened.



Finishing

15. Season the scallops, slice the ginger bread butter in pieces 1cm thick and put 1 on each scallop, then put them on a baking tray and bake for 6 minutes.
16. During that time pan-fry the squash cylinders and season them, re-heat the sauce and plate everything like in the picture.

Recipe Archives

• Pan fried sea bass and fennel pollen sauce
• Black currant paste and fresh berries
• Tomatoes Carpaccio, liquid mozzarella and olives