Hello everybody!

It’s time to share with you another popular French dish! I’m taking you to the West coast, in Brittany, where seafood is abondant and fresh and is a big part of the local gastronomy. Scallops are often eaten as an appetizer as I showed you in a previous recipe, and once again I’m sharing with you a delicious appetizer recipe. This is another dish my grandma always makes for me whenever I come and I’ve been craving for it for quite a while now!

Even though it may look fancy, well presented in its shell, this is actually very simple to prepare and you can make it even without the shells. I don’t know for you, but in Toronto I have a hard time finding scallops in their shell and when I do, they are expensive. I wanted to get them mostly because I wanted to get the red roe of the scallops as it seems that this part is not eaten here and so impossible to find.

This recipe normally calls for both the scallop and its red roe, but if like me you can’t find it, simply use the scallops alone. So if you are in the same situation as me, you can use a bit more scallops in the recipe and pour the preparation in little ramekins or another container. That’s the magic of this recipe, no matter what, you can still make it!

Let’s start cooking!

Ingredients (for 2 persons):

• 2 scallops in the shell
• 150 g scallops
• 1 onion
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 slice white bread
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 tsp flour
• 83 ml white wine
• 25 g butter
• 33 ml milk
• 8 g bread crumbs
• Cognac

Preparation:

1- Open the scallops and clean them well. You only need to keep the muscle and the red roe inside. Cut the muscle in half as well as the red roe and clean them well to remove the dirt. Place them in a container on the side and clean the shells. If you can’t find scallops in their shells, simply use regular scallops and use a bit more than the recipe calls for.

2- Cut the crust of the bread and let the soft inner part soak in milk. Dice the onion and the garlic clove thinly.

3- In a frying pan, melt the butter and add the onion and garlic to let them sweat in the butter. Cover the pan and cook for 40 min. Make sure to stir regularly so the onion and garlic don’t burn. They must slowly caramelize in the butter.

4-Add the flour and mix well. Then add the white wine, mix well and let the mixture thicken.

5- Add in the scallops and red roe (if you can find it). Then add the bread soaked in milk and the parsley. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

6- You only need the deeper parts of the shells for the presentation, so keep these two and get rid of the others. Brush some cognac inside the shells and add the preparation in each of them. Cover with breadcrumbs and place a cube of butter on top. Broil the shells in the oven until it is nicely caramelized and enjoy! If you don’t have scallop shells, no worries! Simply add the preparation in little ramekins and do the process the same way!

This specialty from Brittany makes the most amazing appetizer and is really delicious. This is one of my favorite dish of this region and I really recommend you to try if you never did before!

I hope you will enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comment section what you think about this recipe and if you liked it.

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