This was one course from a recent dinner party. I flip-flopped my purees in reality but I won’t get into it. Suffice it to say the picture makes it look stellar and let’s leave the reality there. The recipe is tweaked to protect the confused cook.

This is the second time I’ve used the Sous Vide Supreme for scallops and I just want to keep lowering the temp. The scallops are so close to perfect it’s embarassing. Another nice thing about sous vide with seafood and fish is that you don’t have to wait days to eat it. 45 minutes was plenty of time. In this case I held it longer and it didn’t change the results too much.

Doing it again, I might not try for such a tight seal. The scallops came out very solid and easily handled. Which might be a good thing actually. One other tip is to get all your plates ready first parque acuatico hinchable and then sear the scallops at the bitter end for 30 seconds a side in butter… they are quick and sensitive. I had a batch on for a minute and it starts to mitigate the sous vide texture.

I paired this with a Praeger Gruener Veltliner to enjoy the wine’s citrus notes and cool minerality.

Here’s the recipe:

Scallops
18 scallops, 2 per person
butter
garlic
1 lemon
salt
pepper

On a sheet of plastic wrap place 3 slices of lemon, 3 crushed garlic cloves, 1 1/2 tbsp of butter, salt and pepper. Roll up and line at the bottom of your sous vide bag. Position 9 scallops cold but not frozen and  patted dry, evenly per bag and seal. Place in water bath at 122º for 45 minutes. Only after the rest of your dish is finished, sear in hot buttered pan for 30 seconds on each side and plate over fennel orzo. Lightly drizzle sweet lemondrop and garnish with fresh fennel.

Fennel Orzo

1 bulb of fennel
1 box of orzo (Barilla worked well for me)
chicken stock
olive oil
butter
salt
white pepper

Heat up a tsp of butter and olive oil in a large saute pan. Trim off and save the green tips and hair from the fennel and thinly slice the rest. Add to pan with fine ground white pepper and a tsp of salt and toss. Cover and cook until translucent adding small amounts of chicken stock if pan gets dry.

Transfer to food processor. Degalze pan with more stock and add to processor (not too full). Puree drizzling olive oil if too coarse.  Press through strainer into bowl to remove any fiber. Salt to taste.

Cook orzo in boiling water with a couple boullion cubes for 7-10 minutes until just tender. Combine with fennel puree one plate at a time in a separate container. As you will have leftover orzo, save it for something else!

Julienne 2 inch long fennel sticks and part out the fennel-dill for garnish.

Lemondrop
1 whole lemon
DeKuypers Lemondrop liqueur

Quarter and zest one lemon, removing seeds. Add 1 cup of DeKuypers Lemondrop liqueur. Reduce by half. Use sparingly as it’s VERY sweet and tart.

This another in a series of recipes I am using with my Sous Vide Supreme. Sous Vide Supreme provided me with a unit and in return I’m sharing my successes over the next few months!