I learned this recipe while working in Chicago back in 1994. I was lucky enough to land a job cooking at the now closed restaurant Ambria. At the time this was one of the top three kitchens in the Chicago area. I learned a lot there and the place fostered my passion for cuisine. One of the things in which I “stole” there was this fantastic appetizer featuring potato crusted scallops. We would sell copious quantities of these every night. There is no set in stone recipe to be given. In the professional kitchen ideas are thrown out, worked up and polished into completed ideas. Here is the idea. Take it and make it your own. You’ll need a good quality Mandelin for julienning the potatoes. If you don’t have this STOP! Go find one. Or borrow one from a fellow food geek.
Ingredients:
-Your count of the freshest sea scallops you can procure.
-Russet potatoes as needed.
–Ap flour for dredging the scallops.
-Salt and pepper.
-Vegetable oil for pan frying the scallops.
-Your best effort on marinara sauce using plenty of red pepper flakes for added spice. You can also get creative by using some roasted red pepper or even chopped fennel to create the marinara. Fennel is a natural with anything seafood derived. To take it to the professional level, pass the finished marinara through a food mill or puree for velvety consistency. Finish the sauce with plenty of freshly chopped basil, and a squeeze of lemon if you need a lift.
Method and Technique:
-Peel a couple of potatoes and add to a bowl of water in which you have added a little lemon juice to preserve color. At Ambria we peeled each and every potato to order!
-Take 2 scallops per each appetizer and season with salt and pepper and dredge in AP flour. Shake off excess flour.
-Jullienne finely one potato and squeze out all the liquid you can using a kitchen towel.
-Next, take a nice handfull of the jullienned potatoes and spread them out in your open hand. Not too thick and not to thin. Add your scallop. Now cover this with another layer of jullienned potato and form this into a kind of cake.
-Pan fry the scallops in about an inch or so of hot oil until each side is golden. When each side is golden the scallop will be perfectly cooked and the potatoes should be tender inside and crispy on the surface. Perhaps sprinkle a little salt onto the scallops after frying and still hot.
-Add some of your marinara to a plate and place 2 scallops per person on each plate, resting one scallop leaning against another for presentation. Garnish if you’d like with fried basil.
* This seems like a lot of work but the end result is pure, classical and painfully memorable.
-Please message me with any concerns and I will be more than willing to coach you. Once you master this you will have a show stopper in you repertoire.
**Serve this with a dry Italian white of your choice. The chalky, mineral laden current release of Alois Lageder Pinot Blanc would be very suitable.
