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Active Time
15 minutes
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Total Time
15 minutes
Editor's note:This recipe is excerpted from Eric Ripert and Michael Ruhlman's book theA Return To Cooking.
To read more about Ripert,click here.
This is a hugely luxurious dish, with the sweet flesh of the scallops enhanced by a sauce flavored and thickened with caviar. The dish is rich and creamy, sweet and salty. And it's very easy to make. The sauce base is clam juice, cream, and butter. The scallops are poached for just a minute or two, and caviar is added to the sauce just before serving. That is the only tricky and critical part of this dish: You must be careful to heat the sauce gently once the caviar has been added, bringing it just up to heat without letting it boil. It is, after all, an egg-thickened sauce, and you must be careful of overcooking eggs in this sauce or the caviar will turn hard and white. Treat it as the delicate product it is. Or, as Eric would put it, "Don't whisk it like an idiot. You must be extremely gentle."
Ingredients
Makes 6 servings
Special Equipment
Step 1
Bring the clam juice and heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add the butter and whisk to incorporate. Set aside.
Step 2
Bring the court-bouillion to a simmer in a pan large enough to accommodate the scallops. Season the scallops on both sides with salt and pepper. Add the scallops to the simmering court-bouillon and poach gently until they are cooked just to rare, about 1 1/2 minutes for large scallops, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes for jumbo scallops.
Step 3
To serve, place a bed of rock salt on each plate and rest a scallop shell on it (if you do not have scallop shells, serve the scallops in shallow bowls). Place 3 large scallops or 1 jumbo in each shell.
Step 4
Meanwhile, gently reheat the sauce. Remove from the heat, add the caviar, and stir until the caviar is just heated through, about 45 seconds. Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the sauce, add the chives, and season with pepper. Spoon the sauce over the scallops, making sure the caviar is evenly distributed. Serve immediately.
How would you rate Poached Scallops with Caviar Sauce?
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Reviews (3)
Back to TopThis was absolutely outstanding and withstood a finicky French dinner party on New Year's day. They were all swiping up the sauce on their plates with bread (an ultimate French compliment to the cook!) I put this in special plates and added salmon eggs to the center with a dolip of extra caviar. It was gorgeous! I'll definitely make this again - but for special holidays only.
JudyFrance
South of France
3/24/2009
I thought this dish was excellent, I tweaked the recipe just a little, with the addition of Saffron, a touch of a sweet german white whine, and a little orange zest for color, and a bit of a sweeter flavour than the lemon called for in the recipe. that is enough to compliment the natural flavours of the scallops and caviar.
Schism
Seattle, WA
2/13/2005
Although the scallops were creamy, the sauce was boring. No real flavor to mention. For the work, the end result was not worth it. I would not make this again.
1236
San Luis Obispo, CA
2/13/2005
