Another week has gone by and we are in week 14 of our celebration. August 15 Julia’s 100th birthday!!! One more week to go and scallops are on the plate today. I am a huge lover of seafood but scallops have to be one of my least favourites. For me it has always been the texture. It goes back to my days of not really liking fish. It is all in the preparation of the scallops that makes it or breaks it and I have had some really bad scallops that were rubbery. Julia comes to save the day again. I would have these scallops again in a second. Rich and flavourful with no issues of texture. They were sliced thinly and cooked rapidly which I have never seen before. Ken and Amber both love scallops so they just gobbled them down with barely a word spoken. They loved them!! And so did I, amazing!!! I am not sure about the taboo of no cheese with seafood or where that came from but now we have had two weeks of seafood and cheese together. Last week being the lobster cheese souffle. So I am throwing that out the window. Anyway grab some little shells from your local kitchen store and whip up these lovelies for your family or friends soon. They are a great make ahead also, which I love. They just need to be run under the broiler at the last minute before serving. Love ya, Julia!!!
1/3 cup minced yellow onion
1 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 Tbsp. minced shallot
1 clove garlic minced
1 lb. washed scallops
salt and pepper
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2/3 cup white wine
1/2 bay leaf
1/8 tsp. thyme
1/3 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1 Tbsp. butter
6 buttered scallop shells
Cook the onion in a large saute pan in the butter very slowly for 5 min. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for another 1-2 min. Do not brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Dry the scallops and cut them into 1/4″ slices. Heat the butter and olive oil on high in the saute pan until very hot but not burning. Just before adding the scallops toss them into the flour and season with salt and pepper. Shaking off excess flour. Saute the scallops very quickly in the butter until lightly browned, about 2 min.
Pour the wine, herbs and onion mixture into the pan and cover and cook for 5 min. Then uncover and boil down the sauce if necessary to thicken. Adjust seasoning and remove bay leaf.
Spoon the scallops into the prepared shells and top with the cheese. Divide the Tbsp. of butter amongst the shells, dotting on top. You may refrigerate them at this time until ready to serve.
Just before serving run them under a moderately hot broiler for 3-4 min. to lightly brown the cheese.
Excerpted from Excerpted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Copyright © 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf. Reprinted with permission from the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
