Champagne!

We got the day before these fresh scallops from Norway, by someone we know who imports fine meats, fishes and cheeses from France (plus a few other countries) for Helsinki's finest restaurants. On a side note, we're among the privileged ones who have unrestricted access to the importer's whole catalogue of goodies outside restaurant's professionals. 

So, with these premium scallops, I decided to do a classic french recipe: "Coquilles St Jacques sauce au Champagne", or "Scallops in a Champagne sauce". First the shells are open (4/pers), the meat is delicately removed, cleaned, washed, and put on the side. All the bits and trims are washed as well, and put in a deep pan with an onion, some bay leaves, black pepper, salt, and put to the boil to make a light stock. Once the stock done, it's time to make the sauce itself. You finely chop a shallot and make it sweat in butter. Once translucent, add a glass of Champagne brut, and half a glass of stock (for 2 pers.). Let the liquid gently boil until reduced to half. Remove the shallots bits and add a couple of spoons of creme fraiche, salt and white pepper. Let further reduce until it reaches a creamy consistency. At the end, you can add a bit more Champagne, but it's entirely up to you. It's possible as well to add a few small cubes of cold butter and/or a few drops of lemon, but it's not mandatory. Now it's time to deal with the scallops. You take a pan and add a generous amount of unsalted butter. Once the butter is of a light brown color and foamy, cook the scallops for 1min. each side (depending of the size, the scallops should be soft when touched with the finger, not ferm). Now, pour some sauce on a hot plate and dispose the scallops on top of it. Finally, drizzle a bit of chopped chive (or parsley/dill) and serve immediately. In our case, the scallops are served with a light cauliflower puree. Ideally, you serve this dish with a Champagne or a premium Bourgogne white. If you have money to spare, go for a Bâtard-Montrachet, a Corton-Charlemagne, a Meursault Grand Cru, or a Chablis Grand Cru (the list goes on and on). Otherwise, a Puligny-Montrachet or a Pouilly-Fuissé will do just fine. For us, the wine of choice was a Bâtard-Montrachet 2011 from Oliver Leflaive (bought in France).

I don't think you can find this kind of dish in a Helsinki restaurant at the moment (the only one I see could be "Palace"), but if you organise a dinner party with some (good) friends, do that dish. It's sure to bring the "wow factor" around the table.