Recipe: Glynn Purnell's Orkney scallop with sauce Bordelaise

Taken from There and Back Again: A Purnell’s Journey, by Glynn Purnell

 

For the scallop

• Large fresh Orkney scallop
• Sunflower oil
• Ground ginger

 

Hold the scallop firmly in your hand with the flat side of the shell next to your thumb and the curved side next to your fingers. The tip of the shell should be on the work surface.

 

Slide a scallop shucking knife into the shell at the top and twist so that the hinge breaks.

 

Slide the knife down the flat side of the shell to release the meat in one clean motion.

 

Open and use the knife to carefully dislodge the scallop from the other half of the shell; the scallop is connected by a white muscle, so free this part and the rest should come away easily.

 

To remove the ‘skirt’, holding the scallop in your hand, locate the white muscle and use the thumb of your free hand to slide in between the muscle and the meat. Slide your thumb all the way around the scallop, being careful not to tear the flesh. Carefully move the skirt away from the flesh and discard.

 

Rinse under gentle cold running water to wash away any residue. Pat dry using a clean kitchen towel and store on a tray with a J-cloth.

 

Preheat a non-stick frying pan on a high heat. Once hot, add a tablespoon of sunflower oil and place the scallops presentation-side down (the side with the larger surface area).

 

Cook for two to three minutes, ensuring a golden colour. Turn the scallops and cook for a further minute – if the scallops are very large, you may need to put them in an oven at 190ºC for one to two minutes at this point.

 

Add a knob of butter and baste the scallops, cooking for a further minute.

 

Remove the scallops from the pan onto a tray and pour the butter over the top. Season with salt and ginger and serve immediately.

 

For the pommes dauphine

• 500ml water
• 125g salted butter
• 250g strong white flour, sifted
• 7 large whole eggs
• Dry mashed potatoes, warm
• Ground ginger

 

In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the water and butter to a simmer. Once simmering and the butter has melted, add the sifted flour and cook it out on a low/medium heat using a wooden spoon or spatula. Beat until the choux comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a smooth ball – this should take approximately six to eight minutes.

 

Turn the dough out into an electric mixing bowl and leave to stand for two minutes. Place the bowl onto the electric mixer with the paddle attachment fitted. On a medium speed, beat the eggs in one at a time, allowing 30 seconds of beating before adding the next. Once the eggs are all incorporated, beat for a further two minutes.

 

Remove the dough from the bowl and weigh it in a large, clean mixing bowl. Whatever the weight of the choux pastry, you should weigh an equal amount of dry mashed potatoes, eg, 1kg of choux would need 1kg of dry mashed potatoes.

 

Pre-heat a deep-fat fryer to 170ºC.

 

Place the warm choux and warm, dry mash into the electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat for two minutes on a low/medium speed. Add salt and ginger to season.

 

Test a spoonful by dropping the mixture into the fryer for two minutes until golden and crispy. Remove and drain and leave to cool slightly, taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

 

Pipe the dauphine into quenelle moulds, smooth using an offset palette knife and freeze overnight. Once frozen, turn out the dauphine and place onto a lined tray, cling film loosely and leave in the fridge to defrost.

 

To serve, deep-fry at 170ºC for three to four minutes until golden and crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. Practice with times and temperature to achieve the correct cooking degree.

 

Note: Adjust the percentages of the mix depending on the sugar content of the potatoes. Sugar levels change in potatoes throughout the seasons. More sugar content in the potatoes will require more choux. Increase by 10% to start.

 

For the king oyster mushroom

• 4 Eryngii mushrooms

 

Brush any dirt off the mushrooms using a fine brush.

 

Remove the head of the mushrooms. Slice the bottom into three pieces, then dice into the same size pieces as the bone marrow for your sauce (see below). Dice the head to the same size. Store in the fridge in a container until needed.

 

###For the bordelaise sauce

• 3 large bone marrow rings
• 1 large banana shallot
• 100g flat leaf parsley
• 500ml beef sauce
• Diced Eryngii mushroom

 

Place the bone marrow rings under a cold running tap for 10 minutes, or until soft enough to push the marrow from the bones.

 

Place the marrow into the fridge and reserve the bones for another use (beef stock, for instance).

 

Finely brunoise the shallot. Place into a pan with cold water and bring to a boil. Drain the water and leave the shallot to cool on a tray lined with kitchen towel.

 

Pick the parsley leaves from the stalks and finely chop the leaves. Keep the stalks for stock.

 

To finish the sauce, remove the bone marrow from the fridge and dice into 1cm cubes. Place onto a small roasting tray and blowtorch until scorched all over.

 

Heat the beef sauce, add the cooked bone marrow, diced Eryngii, diced shallots and parsley. Adjust the seasoning if needed and serve immediately.

 

For the parsley oil

• 500ml sunflower oil
• 500g flat leaf parsley, washed and dried

 

Using a Thermomix, heat oil to 70ºC. Once the oil is at temperature, add the parsley and blend on a high speed.

 

Heat back up to 70ºC, then pass through muslin cloth, seal in a large sous vide bag and hang in a fridge overnight.

 

The next day the oil and any water that was left in the parsley should have separated. In the corner where the water has gathered, cut a small hole and gently squeeze until all the water has been expelled. You will lose a little oil, but the remaining oil will be have no water in it.

 

Store in sous vide bags and decant into squeezy bottles for service.

 

To serve

• Black winter truffle

 

Spoon two spoonfuls of the Bordelaise sauce into the middle of a serving plate with an insert in the centre. Frame the sauce around the outside with the parsley oil. Place the cooked scallop off centre of the pool of sauce, with the pommes dauphine adjacent to the scallop. Cover generously with gratings of the black truffle.

 

Photography by Michelle Martin