Scallops with confit potatoes and a ginger and thyme velouté
Angela Hartnett’s scallops with confit potatoes and a ginger and thyme velouté recipe is a stunner. You can make part of this seafood dish ahead.
Serves4
Hands-on20 min
Oven40 min
DifficultyEasy
The potatoes do their slow work in the oven, barely bubbling in thyme-scented rapeseed oil, which leaves the cook free to make the sauce before anyone arrives. By the time the pan is hot for the seafood, everything else is waiting.
Why it’s so good: Sweet, caramelised scallops sit against a silky sauce that carries the warmth of fresh ginger and the sharpness of dry cider, while matchsticks of raw apple add crunch.
Make it easy: Confit the potatoes and make the velouté the day before, then reheat both gently while the scallops sear.
Method
Melt the goose fat in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the herbs, garlic and potatoes, season, and bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15-18 minutes, until just tender. Cool, then lift the potatoes from the fat and peel with a small, sharp knife. Set aside. Angela’s tip: Buy ratte potatoes if you can find them. Cook the potatoes very slowly. You can re-use the fat – cool until solid, then chill. Make the velouté
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a clean saucepan. Add the shallot and a little salt and cook quickly over a high heat for a few minutes to just soften. Add the bay leaf, ginger, garlic, wine and thyme, and reduce by two-thirds. Add the stock and reduce by half. Add the cream and reduce by half. Strain into a clean pan and keep hot over a very low heat. Angela’s tips: a velouté is a creamy light-coloured sauce, so don’t colour the shallot when frying. Reduce the wine well to remove the alcohol and concentrate the lovely grape flavour. Sauté the mushrooms
Using a knife, scrape off the outer layer of each mushroom stalk. Put the butter in a small frying pan over a high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes. Take the pan off the heat and remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon. Pan-fry the scallops
Cut each scallop in half through the middle, then sprinkle with the curry powder. Reheat the butter in the mushroom pan over a high heat.
Add the scallops – in batches – and cook for 30 seconds. Flip with a palette knife and cook for a further 30 seconds. Set aside on kitchen paper somewhere warm. Repeat with the remaining scallops. Whizz up the velouté using a stick blender, until slightly frothy. Cut the potatoes into medium-thick slices. Put 6 slices in a circle, spaced apart, on each deep serving plate. Rest 1 slice of scallop against each potato slice, then dot with mushrooms. Spoon over the velouté to serve. Angela’s tips: scallops must be cooked briefly. Lay them out in a circle in the pan, so you know which ones will be ready first.
Nutrition
Per serving (Serves 4)
Calories
532kcals
Fat
35.9g (21.6g saturated)
Protein
31.8g
Carbohydrates
16.1g (2.7g sugar)
Quick wins, tips & make ahead
Make ahead: confit the potatoes up to 1 day ahead, cool, then chill them in their oil. Make the velouté at the same time and chill it separately. Bring the potatoes to room temperature before slicing, and reheat the sauce gently with a splash of water if it has thickened.
Buying scallops: the Marine Conservation Society's Good Fish Guide lists farmed king scallops as a Best Choice and says the sustainability of wild ones varies, so ask the fishmonger where and how they were caught. If using frozen scallops, defrost overnight in the fridge and dry them very well, or they will steam instead of sear.
Swaps and scaling: dry white wine works in place of the cider. To serve 2 as a main course, keep the quantities as they are and add wilted greens.
