Jane Grigson's Fish Book Part 19

The recipe, which can be used for other oily fish, or even slices of firm white fish (pile the stuffing on top), is adapted from Ada Boni's Italian Regional Cooking Italian Regional Cooking. Other versions subst.i.tute olives and capers for the anchovies.

Serves 61 kg (2 lb) sardines, split and bonedsalt, pepperolive oil12 tablespoons soft white breadcrumbs60 g (2 oz) sultanas60 g (2 oz) pine kernels6 salted anchovies, boned, soaked or or 12 fillets tinned in oil, soaked 12 fillets tinned in oil, soaked2 tablespoons chopped parsley2 tablespoons very finely chopped onion12 lemons or oranges or or 1 of each 1 of each3 bay leaves Season the sardines with salt and pepper. Switch on the oven to gas 6, 200C (400F). Choose a gratin dish into which the sardines will fit in a single layer.

In a thin layer of oil, brown 9 tablespoons of breadcrumbs lightly, then mix them with sultanas and pine kernels. Pound or chop anchovies, and add them to the breadcrumb mixture with plenty of pepper, the parsley and onion. The original recipe added sugar at this point, about a teaspoon, but I don't think it is necessary, especially if you are using orange juice. An addition I sometimes make is a little finely grated zest from the lemon.

Put some stuffing on to each sardine and roll it from the wide end so that eventually the tail sticks up. Brush the baking dish lightly with oil, put in any stuffing left over and place the rolls in it, close together. Tear the bay leaves into pieces, sprinkle them over the top with the remaining breadcrumbs. Spray them with a little oil, or sprinkle it on.

Bake for 15 minutes, then check on the sardines which should be cooked and the crumbs which should be browned. Pour lemon or lemon and orange juice over the dish immediately before serving it. Or else serve the dish with the citrus fruit cut into wedges.

STARGAZY PIE.

The quaint name is a puzzle. The small sail at the top of a mast was called a stargazer and so is a horse that insists on keeping its head back. The pie is a speciality of Mousehole in Cornwall where they make it on Tom Bawc.o.c.k's Eve, 23 December. This heroic fisherman went out in a roaring sea to catch fish because the town had nothing to eat for Christmas. n.o.body thought he would return, but he did, and with a mixed bag large enough to feed everybody. There is a certain lack of evidence on the unusual construction of the pie: I would feel happier about it if I could find some evidence for it before the 1950s.

There are other Cornish pies that sound much more authentic. One has alternate layers of soaked salted pilchards and leeks that have been scalded in milk. When everything is cooked, the crust is raised at one side, the liquor drained off and replaced with scalded cream. In another, boned and rolled herring or mackerel are packed into a dish with breadcrumbs. On top go some slices of bacon with a gill of cream and a splash of tarragon vinegar. The dish is covered with pastry, apart from the fish heads which are arranged in the centre. When you serve the pie, a sprig of parsley is put into the mouth of each fish. Those recipes were recorded in 1929.

To make a good effect with stargazy pie, you need eight pilchards or small herrings or large sardines and a shallow pie dish that will take them tail to tail in the centre, their heads leaning on the rim. You also need 750 g (1 lb) shortcrust pastry: roll out half and line the pie dish.

Clean and bone the fish, leaving their heads in place. Season inside lavishly with salt and pepper, then either chopped herbs or French mustard. Fold them back into shape and arrange on the dish so that their heads lie evenly on the rim. Fill the gaps between the fish with a mixture of chopped streaky bacon, crumbled hard-boiled egg and breadcrumbs, in roughly equal quant.i.ties.

Cover with the remaining pastry, pressing it down firmly between the heads so that the fish lie underneath a wavy blanket. Make a central hole and brush with beaten egg. Bake in the oven preheated to gas 7, 220C (425F), for about 20 minutes, to firm and colour the pastry lightly. Then give it 25 minutes more at gas 4, 180C (350F), or until done.

CANNED SARDINES.

Sardines were the first fish to be canned in the 1820s, in Nantes, many years before the Canadians started to can salmon. The best of the Nantes sardines the market is of the caveat emptor caveat emptor kind and likely to become more so are still the first in flavour, too. This is because the methods of canning have produced not just a poor subst.i.tute for the real thing (like canned crab and lobster) but something worth eating in its own right. kind and likely to become more so are still the first in flavour, too. This is because the methods of canning have produced not just a poor subst.i.tute for the real thing (like canned crab and lobster) but something worth eating in its own right.

From the north to the south of Europe, and the North Africa, one can make a choice between many brands, offering roughly three categories of sardine.

There are the brisling, tiny fish which are really sprats and not sardines at all. Smoking is what gives them their individual flavour. They are eaten in the same way as sardines, and most people think of them as Skipper's sardines, whatever the law says about nomenclature (they are conscientiously described on the label as Norwegian smoked brisling, and we are being encouraged just to call them Skippers).

Then there are the sardines that are really quite large a little too large from Portugal, Spain and North Africa. They are steamed in oil and packed in the same oil, which in not necessarily olive oil. The trade to Great Britain is enormous. Look for the Marie Elisabeth brand, partly on account of the excellent olive oil used but also because the sardines have been allowed to mature for a year in the can before being put out for sale. This is important. The ideal thing is to make a store of sardines, and turn them regularly every few months, using them in rotation: this gives the olive oil and fish juices a chance to intermingle, to the benefit of the flavour of the sardine.

Some of these fish may not be sardines at all, so read the small print. What is even more important, as Alan Davidson pointed out in Pet.i.ts Propos Culinaires Pet.i.ts Propos Culinaires, No 2, 1979, is what the fish are canned in. Again read the small print. Avoid any that are canned in other oils than olive oil, and beware of those that suffer in tomato sauce.

The third category is the fine French sardine from Brittany and the Atlantic coast, down as far as Royan at the mouth of the Gironde. This is the famous frisky sardine celebrated by Desnos in one of his nonsense poems: Une sardine de RoyanNageait dans l'eau de la Gironde.Le ciel est grand, la terre est ronde,J'irai me baigner a Royan.Avec la sardine,Avec la Gironde,Vive la marine!Et salut au monde!

Since the sardine is seasonal, arriving in incalculable quant.i.ties, the problem was, in the past, preservation of the catch. Salting in barrels was the usual answer, but or so the story goes a Mademoiselle Le Guillou of Lorient had the idea of frying them in olive oil, then putting them up in jars filled with fresh oil to keep out the air. A fellow citizen, Monsieur Brancart, began commercial production. In her famous Spectator Spectator article on sardines, reprinted in article on sardines, reprinted in An Omelette and a Gla.s.s of Wine An Omelette and a Gla.s.s of Wine, Elizabeth David describes the clay oules oules that held them and goes far more deeply into the early and continuing history than I can here. that held them and goes far more deeply into the early and continuing history than I can here.

This happened at the start of the nineteenth century when Nicolas Appert, who as distiller and confectioner had been much occupied with preservation, set up a factory for bottling food at Ma.s.sy, near Paris. The advances were made when he tackled the problem of feeding the Navy, and people making sea journeys. His products were sent to Brest to be kept at sea for several months: when the bottles were opened in April, 1807, the partridges and peas and other meats were in a good edible condition. Appert published his methods in 1810.

The next substantial progress was made by an Englishman, Bryan Donkin, who saw the weak point of Appert's method the breakable jars and adapted it to tin-plated cans. The British Navy was as impressed as the French had been. So were the better-off travellers who could afford to eat canned rather than salted meat on board ship. In 1824 William Parry took canned beef, veal, soup and vegetables on his expedition to discover the North-West Pa.s.sage and a confectioner of Nantes, Joseph Colin, began to can sardines. They were of course a luxury unlike the canned Pacific salmon that was produced forty years later when such goods were becoming a G.o.dsend to the ma.s.s market of growing industrial towns, and America was getting the blame for exploiting what was after all an English invention. What is surprising is the way old att.i.tudes survive bottled fruit and vegetables are still reckoned superior to canned and a tin of salmon is still the treat for Sunday tea in many thousands of families in Britain.

In France you will find a much wider choice in the quality of canned sardines than in any other country. Check the small print. You can see from the label that sardines in olive oil a l'ancienne a l'ancienne are something special. Category 1, 'Extra', are worth going for, too, as this means the sardines used were all fresh and matched for size. Once frozen fish enters into a product (category 2, 'Choice', includes frozen as well as fresh sardines) there is inevitably a deterioration as there has been so sadly in Lancashire potted shrimps. The best Breton sardine is slightly smaller than the Portuguese. It has been brined, beheaded and gutted, rinsed in seawater, and dried in currents of warm air. It is then lightly cooked in olive oil before being packed in fresh olive oil with aromatics. The quality of the French product depends, too, on coolness on the coolness of the waters from which the fish are caught, on the coolness of the climate of Nantes, Douarnenez and Concarneau where they are processed. For these considerations, you must expect to pay a little more. are something special. Category 1, 'Extra', are worth going for, too, as this means the sardines used were all fresh and matched for size. Once frozen fish enters into a product (category 2, 'Choice', includes frozen as well as fresh sardines) there is inevitably a deterioration as there has been so sadly in Lancashire potted shrimps. The best Breton sardine is slightly smaller than the Portuguese. It has been brined, beheaded and gutted, rinsed in seawater, and dried in currents of warm air. It is then lightly cooked in olive oil before being packed in fresh olive oil with aromatics. The quality of the French product depends, too, on coolness on the coolness of the waters from which the fish are caught, on the coolness of the climate of Nantes, Douarnenez and Concarneau where they are processed. For these considerations, you must expect to pay a little more.

You can do a number of things with canned sardines, but none of the recipes that involves heating them is to be recommended. There is always another fish herring or anchovy which would give a better result. When you buy a good brand of sardines, serve them on their own with decent bread, fine b.u.t.ter and some lemon, or as part of a mixed first course. In France they sometimes come to table in their can to indicate the quality of the brand. Once upon a time the firm of Amieux had specially decorated plates made to hold the cans, but you won't find them outside a secondhand shop. Another way is to set the sardines on a round plate like the spokes of a wheel, with lemon wedges in the centre.

Left-over sardines, or not-quite-the-best sardines make an admirable fish paste if you mash them with unsalted b.u.t.ter (see p. 190 p. 190).

SAURY see see A FEW WORDS ABOUT... A FEW WORDS ABOUT... GARFISH GARFISH

SCALLOPS, SMALL & LARGE Argopecten irradians, Chlamys opercularis, Pecten maximus, Placopecten magellica.n.u.s [image]

I daresay American readers will disagree with me, particularly those with their own special place on Cape Cod, but for scallops I would go to Boston. Never have I eaten scallops of such sweetness as the ones that lie about in a box in one of Turner's sheds on the quay, so that people splashing by can pop a couple into their mouths like sugar lumps. A sashimi of scallops may be more civilized in terms of dining, but those tiny bay scallops need no sauce and no surroundings.

For a start, they are so full of life in their flavour that I was not surprised to read Howard Mitcham's description of them jumping around in the tidal pools of Cape Cod, or tangled in the eel gra.s.s when the water was out, bobbing along by clapping their sh.e.l.ls together fast. 'It's truly an amazing sight... it gives you a shock of bewilderment.' We have tiny scallops in Europe, too, but all at the fishmongers from deep water, not in rock pools at low tide. Queen scallops and the less familiar princess scallops are pink-marked and beautiful, not the same species as the bay scallops, Argopecten irradians Argopecten irradians, that enliven the beaches at Providence and elsewhere on the Cape. Alan Davidson describes eating them at the No Name restaurant in Boston, simply grilled on a baking sheet smeared with margarine. What could be better? was his conclusion. The first time we had queens, vanneaux vanneaux on the menu card, was at the Cafe de Paris at Cherbourg, and they, too, had been grilled, though with b.u.t.ter. Still, I think, there is nothing to beat them untouched, Turner-style. It is the freshness that counts. on the menu card, was at the Cafe de Paris at Cherbourg, and they, too, had been grilled, though with b.u.t.ter. Still, I think, there is nothing to beat them untouched, Turner-style. It is the freshness that counts.

The Americans have a large scallop, too, the Atlantic deep-sea scallop, Placopecten magellica.n.u.s Placopecten magellica.n.u.s. Was it Magellan who first found them as he beat his way down to Tierra del Fuego? They usually come much the same size as our European scallops, but they can grow as large as dinner plates. 'These beautiful large sea scallop sh.e.l.ls' Howard Mitcham again 'are very common in Provincetown... You can buy them from kids who peddle them on the street, or from gift shops or, if you're lucky enough to know a scallop fisherman, he will give you hundreds of them free.... They should be sc.r.a.ped clean and boiled in a strong solution of water and bicarbonate of soda for an hour or more so you can get them completely clean and sterile. Never use soap or detergents to clean your scallop sh.e.l.ls; they are porous and will absorb chemicals and odors from the soaps, making them useless for cooking. These sh.e.l.ls make a perfect baking or serving dish and are almost indispensable for the cla.s.sic Coquilles St Jacques recipes.' I must confess I have always scrubbed scallop sh.e.l.ls with hot water and put them into the washing-up machine, without noticing any taste of soap next time I used them. But I pa.s.s the tip on.

On a second visit to Boston I tried these larger scallops, which seem mainly to be much the same diameter as ours in Europe. This was at the Maison Robert, where I tasted again the freshness, the sweetness of the sea that had not been smothered with culinary love and fuss. One odd thing, though, scallops in America are often deprived of their corals before sale. This is beginning to change presumably under the weight of protest from chefs and writers? and it should. The slightly hooked coral is the roe, the deep orange being the female roe and the cream that often, though not always underpins it the male. Apart from being delicious in itself, it can be crushed and creamed with b.u.t.ter or the liquids of the recipe to colour the sauce. To me, the whole appearance of a dish of scallops is lifted by this bright tone.

Appearance is an important part of the scallop's attraction. It has become so companionable a part of our European civilization. One looks up at an eighteenth-century doorway and sees the sh.e.l.l porch or fanlight; sees a child baptized with water from a sh.e.l.l scoop, takes tea from a caddy with a silver scallop sh.e.l.l caddy spoon; the beauty of the shape is never exhausted. It may surprise one in opening the doors of an old corner cupboard; it brings delight, it is never taken for granted. It belongs to great painting. Aphrodite floating in on a scallop sh.e.l.l, flecks of real gold in her hair. It belongs to the poor, who went on pilgrimages to Spain to the church of St James at Compostela wearing the coquille St Jacques coquille St Jacques on their broad-brimmed hats. In our cave village in France, a room in one house in the cliff has an alcove with a scallop sh.e.l.l carved into the rock as ceiling. Nothing grand. It is said that the room was a chapel for the pilgrims who crossed the Loir to worship at the church of St Jacques on the other side of the river, as they journeyed to Spain. on their broad-brimmed hats. In our cave village in France, a room in one house in the cliff has an alcove with a scallop sh.e.l.l carved into the rock as ceiling. Nothing grand. It is said that the room was a chapel for the pilgrims who crossed the Loir to worship at the church of St Jacques on the other side of the river, as they journeyed to Spain.

And I suppose that with the deep-freezing of scallop meat in packages, we shall eventually lose even the sh.e.l.l and have to look at petrol pumps to remind ourselves.

HOW TO CHOOSE AND PREPARE SCALLOPS.

Most fishmongers sell scallops all prepared and shining, a few on the sh.e.l.l to set them off, the rest nicely grouped around. If they are a good size, you may get away with two large scallops per person for some dishes, but three or four is a more kindly number. With the tiny princesses, queens and bay scallops, a dozen is a reasonable helping: gauge the size with your eye, 4 or perhaps 5 are the equivalent to the normal size. Reflect, too, that scallops are a particularly fine sh.e.l.lfish: n.o.body expects to gulp them down in mindless quant.i.ties.

Sometimes you may have the chance of buying scallops as they leave the sea. They will look far less attractive, gritty, dirty, greyish, but buy them all the same. Ask the fishmonger to open the sh.e.l.ls for you, if they are mainly closed. Before you clean this natural-looking creature, take a good look. Round the edge, there is this grey transparent frill edged with half a hundred pearly-looking eyes, a beautiful sight. Once you remove this and the gills, rinsing the whole thing briefly, you are down to the edible part which emerges from its veil of a mantle shining and clean, a plump white disc the adductor muscle and the dazzling pointed coral roe. Separate the two gently, cut off any black bit attached to the coral and peel away the little hard k.n.o.bbly bit attached to one side of the disc.

Keep the deep sh.e.l.ls at least and clean them as suggested above. They can serve as little dishes for cooked scallops, or as moulds for baking pastry sh.e.l.ls. There is a restaurant dish in which one or two scallops are put into one deep sh.e.l.l with aromatics: a rim of puff pastry is pressed round the edge, then on goes the flat upper sh.e.l.l. The whole thing is baked in a very hot oven, so that the scallops cook in their own steam, and the hinge of puff pastry rises to accommodate the steam. At table, you crack open your scallop sh.e.l.ls, as if you expected to see Aphrodite pushing up the sh.e.l.l like a Tanagra figure.

Scallops can be cooked in so many ways. Try them instead of squid in the Borshch recipe on p. 408 p. 408. Rich sauces have been devised for them, and do have the benefit of extending their wonderful flavour; as an occasional treat, they should not be despised.

SCALLOPS AU NATUREL.

As with all fish and sh.e.l.lfish, rinse scallops as briefly as possible. For eating without further cooking, use only the white part. The coral roe is too soft and creamy, and should be kept for sauces and soups when it will be lightly cooked.

Tiny scallops need no more dressing than a drop or two of lemon, lime or bitter orange juice. They look attractive heaped on to red and cream radicchio leaves, or nested into some curly endive. Serve wholemeal bread with them, and white wine. Put a pepper mill handy and some cayenne.

Larger scallops will benefit from slicing across into two or three discs or more. Taste them before you season them with any salt. Brush a plate over with a top quality olive oil, arrange the slices on it and brush them over lightly with more oil. Keep it very light, the oil.

For a simpler effect, slice the discs across as thinly as you can and put them into a bowl in which you have mixed 125 ml (4 fl oz) olive oil and the juice of a large lemon, pepper and salt. Stir the slices gently, but thoroughly, then drain and arrange them in little heaps say in the sh.e.l.l, or in the centre of a pile of salad just before you serve them. Do not leave the scallops in the oil for any length of time.

You can add steamed samphire tips (p. 83) and, if you want to make a contrast, a little salmon tartare (p. 321). Scallops prepared in this way, with oil, could be put into scallops sh.e.l.ls with a half-wreath of samphire. Steady the sh.e.l.ls on a little mound of coa.r.s.e salt or a circle of seaweed.

If you rejoice in a supply of really fine fresh fish and sh.e.l.lfish, sashimi on p. 364 p. 364 is a good way of making the most of it, scallops and three other fish of contrasting texture and colour do very well. is a good way of making the most of it, scallops and three other fish of contrasting texture and colour do very well.

CORAL SAUCE.

There are a number of ways of using corals to flavour and colour a sauce. You can, for instance, use them when making an hollandaise*: liquidize or process them with hot melted b.u.t.ter after cooking them for a few seconds in the b.u.t.ter just to stiffen them slightly. It is important to avoid overcooking the coral part.

This kind of sauce goes well with a scallop mousseline or a fish terrine in which the white part of scallops has been used, along with other fish, p. 512 p. 512.

Serves 4500 ml (15 fl oz) fish stock*1 tablespoon chopped shallot6 peppercorns, lightly crushed4 tablespoons dry white wine175 ml (6 fl oz) creme fraichecorals from 12 scallops or more, any black bits removed60 g (2 oz) unsalted b.u.t.tersalt, pepper, cayenne If the fish stock had been made with a proportion of sh.e.l.lfish debris, so much the better. It can also include any juices left from cooking the white part of the scallops, or the fish it is to accompany.

Cook the shallot, peppercorns and wine until you have no more liquid, just a moist puree. Add half the cream and reduce by half. Meanwhile, liquidize or process the remaining cream with the corals and set aside.

Add the stock to the shallot and cream reduction and reduce again to a lightly syrupy consistency. Lower the heat, stir in the coral/cream mixture, then the b.u.t.ter keep shaking the pan, or stirring it, so that the sauce thickens slightly without the b.u.t.ter oiling. Lift the pan from the heat every so often, to prevent overheating. Finally, season to taste.

COQUILLES SAINT-JACQUES a LA PROVENcALE.

As this recipe is often given in cookery books, here is a quick summary of it with one important improvement the separate cooking of the breadcrumbs.

Fry the white part of scallops with garlic and sliced mushrooms 250 g (8 oz) to 20 scallops adding coral at the end of the cooking time. At the same time fry about 60 g (2 oz) white breadcrumbs in b.u.t.ter in another pan, with 2 tablespoons of olive oil as well. Mix in plenty of chopped parsley. Drain scallops and mushrooms, mix with the breadcrumbs and serve quickly with lemon quarters.

COQUILLES SAINT-JACQUES FLAMBeES 'GORDON'

Searching after the fish in Normandy and its purlieus one year, we seemed rather to find Joan of Arc instead. At Le Crotoy, near its famous seafood restaurant (Moules a ma facon, Gurnards provencales), we saw a tablet in the ruined castle wall to sour our sleep. Here the French had handed Joan of Arc over to the English, and from here on 8 December she had walked across the mouth of the Somme towards her trial and death at Rouen. We looked beyond the exquisite iron cross on the sea wall, over the wide estuary, grey now at low tide, and felt the cold sucking of her feet in the mud and seaweed, as the party forded the crossing to St Valery. The Somme is a bitter enough river in spring and autumn; but in December?

Then in Rouen, pursuing the best source of local food, being told again and again 'La Couronne', by a policeman, a hotel-keeper and an anglophile bookshop-owner, we pa.s.sed another tablet 'Ah Rouen, Rouen, I had never thought you would be my tomb' and we felt the p.r.i.c.kings of historic conscience. But the head waiter, the liveliest of his breed, came and placed before us some of the most delicious scallops we had ever eaten. We began to feel at peace in that wooden medieval room. 'Gin's the secret,' said the head waiter as he glided by.

Serves 4puff pastry ( (optional, see recipe recipe)12 scallopsseasoned flour4 tablespoons b.u.t.ter1 tablespoon oil175 ml (6 fl oz) creme fraiche4 tablespoons Gordon's ginsalt, pepperlemon juicechopped parsley Preheat the oven to gas 8, 230 C (450 F).

Roll out the pastry thinly. Cut into 4 squares. Rub the back back of 4 deep scallop sh.e.l.ls with a b.u.t.ter paper (or brush with vegetable oil). Fit the pastry over the back of the sh.e.l.ls, pressing it over the rims to keep it from shrinking. Bake for 15 minutes, pastry side up, or until nicely browned. Cut round the edges, so that the sh.e.l.l can be separated. If the inside of the pastry sh.e.l.ls is steamy, put them back into the oven for a minute or two to dry out. Keep them warm. of 4 deep scallop sh.e.l.ls with a b.u.t.ter paper (or brush with vegetable oil). Fit the pastry over the back of the sh.e.l.ls, pressing it over the rims to keep it from shrinking. Bake for 15 minutes, pastry side up, or until nicely browned. Cut round the edges, so that the sh.e.l.l can be separated. If the inside of the pastry sh.e.l.ls is steamy, put them back into the oven for a minute or two to dry out. Keep them warm.

If you have no puff pastry to hand, use the scallop sh.e.l.l themselves as containers, or small souffle dishes.

Slice the scallops across into 2 discs each. Turn them in seasoned flour. Cook them in b.u.t.ter and oil, turning them once. Meanwhile heat the cream and reduce it slightly. When the scallops are done, warm the gin, set it alight and pour it over the scallops in their pan. Add salt, pepper and the boiling cream; cook for a few seconds and add a little lemon juice to taste.

Place the scallops in their sh.e.l.ls or pots, pour the sauce over them, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve very hot.

NOTE Lobster can be cooked in this way, too. Lobster can be cooked in this way, too. See See p. 217 p. 217.

CURRIED SCALLOPS.

The Newburg recipe (p. 344) is easily adapted to other seasonings. One of the most popular is curry powder, which is used in an entirely French way. Most delicious.

For the brandy and Madeira in the Newburg recipe, subst.i.tute the white wine cooking stock, reduced by boiling to 125 ml (4 fl oz). When the b.u.t.ter is added to the scallops, put in 2 teaspoons of curry powder.

When you serve the scallops, a light scatter of chopped green coriander of chervil goes harmoniously with the sauce.

HANNAH GLa.s.sE'S STEWED SCALLOPS A slightly adapted version of a recipe from The Art of Cooking The Art of Cooking, published in 1747. Over 200 years later, it is still a good way of cooking scallops. The seasoning of Seville orange juice is unusual and piquant.

Serves 6150 ml (5 fl oz) dry white wine150 ml (5 fl oz) water1 scant tablespoon white wine vinegar teaspoon mace2 clovessalt, pepper18 scallops1 tablespoon b.u.t.ter1 tablespoon plain flourjuice of 1 Seville orange Put wine, water, vinegar, mace and cloves into a pan. Bring them to the boil, and simmer covered for 5 or 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and judge whether or not the spices should be increased. Meanwhile, slice the whies of the scallops in half across, then slide them into the liquid with the corals and cook gently for 45 minutes. They should not be overcooked.

Pour off the liquor and measure it: if there is more than 300 ml (10 fl oz), boil it down. Mash b.u.t.ter and flour together, then add to the simmering liquid in smallish pieces, stirring them in. This will thicken the sauce. Finally, season with Seville orange juice, and more salt and pepper if required. Pour over the scallops and serve at once.

GRILLED SCALLOPS.

The simplest and many would say the best way of cooking scallops is to grill them.

First switch on the grill so that it is really hot by the time you come to cook the fish. Find a flat baking sheet or fireproof shallow dish that will stand up to the heat, and brush it over with b.u.t.ter or olive oil.

Prepare the scallops, cutting the thicker ones across into two discs. Set them out in a single layer on the sheet or dish, having turned them in seasoned olive oil. Alternatively, dab them with b.u.t.ter or brush with melted b.u.t.ter, and season them once they are in place. Put the corals round the edge, where the heat will not be so intense.

Slip them under the grill, at a distance of 810 cm (34 inches). Turn them once, as the tops colour lightly. Depending on the thickness of the scallops, they will take between 3 and 5 minutes in all. It is wise to include an extra scallop as a tester.

VARIATION Flavour the oil in which you turn the scallops with chopped garlic and lemon juice. Add cayenne pepper to the seasonings. Flavour the oil in which you turn the scallops with chopped garlic and lemon juice. Add cayenne pepper to the seasonings.

VARIATION By mixing a proportion of olive oil into a flavoured b.u.t.ter, you get a soft consistency that makes it easier to dab on sh.e.l.lfish. Here is an example, quant.i.ties for 4 people: By mixing a proportion of olive oil into a flavoured b.u.t.ter, you get a soft consistency that makes it easier to dab on sh.e.l.lfish. Here is an example, quant.i.ties for 4 people: 3 tablespoons olive oil3 halved cloves garlic6 anchovy filletsleaves of 1 medium bunch of parsley, chervil and chives125 g (4 oz) lightly salted Lurpak or unsalted b.u.t.tersalt, pepper Process the first four ingredients to an even crumbly mixture, then add the b.u.t.ter, cut in cubes. Season to taste. Serve with lemon wedges.

VARIATION Grill the white parts only of the scallops. Turn the corals into a sauce to go with them, Grill the white parts only of the scallops. Turn the corals into a sauce to go with them, see see following recipe. following recipe.

VARIATION Certain vegetables go well with scallops. Leeks cut into slivers and cooked down with a k.n.o.b of b.u.t.ter, in their own juices. Red and yellow peppers roasted in a very hot oven, then skinned, seeded and cut in pieces when they are very soft: they can be reheated and dressed with a little of the flavoured b.u.t.ter used for basting the scallops, or just a light chopping of garlic, parsley, and lemon peel thinly removed with a zester. Certain vegetables go well with scallops. Leeks cut into slivers and cooked down with a k.n.o.b of b.u.t.ter, in their own juices. Red and yellow peppers roasted in a very hot oven, then skinned, seeded and cut in pieces when they are very soft: they can be reheated and dressed with a little of the flavoured b.u.t.ter used for basting the scallops, or just a light chopping of garlic, parsley, and lemon peel thinly removed with a zester.

Sea vegetables, laverbread reheated with orange and lemon juice perhaps, or steamed marsh samphire are good accompaniments.

SCALLOPS EN BROCHETTE.

Scallops with bacon does not seem as surprising as it did twenty years ago, now that we have become used to mixtures of fish and meat (surf 'n' turf as it is unpleasantly, if snappily, described in some quarters). Monkfish, tope and the other meaty fishes, cod, mussels and oysters are all good treated the same way.

The basic treatment is simple enough, and easy to vary according to your fancy. The important thing is to acquire excellent bacon, smoked or not according to your tastes. Streaky cured in the German style is good. In Britain, Ayrshire or Yorkshire bacon sliced very thin is superb the fat it provides bastes the scallops and drips away, while the bacon itself turns crisp (with many modern whizz cures only a whitish sort of brine emerges and the bacon goes tough).

Allow 34 scallops per person and enough thinly cut bacon to provide 7 or 9 squares, roughly the same size as the scallops.

You also need a nice chopping of parsley and garlic, with a pinch of thyme, and a little sunflower or safflower oil.

Slice the white part of the scallops into two discs. Put them on to 6 skewers, interspersed with the bacon pieces and the corals. Brush them over with oil and roll in the herbs and garlic so that they are nicely but not thickly speckled.

Put under a preheated grill for about 5 minutes, turning at least once. The scallops should be just cooked, the edges of the bacon slightly caught by the heat.

Serve on warm plates, with lemon wedges, bread and a bottle of dry white wine, Muscadet being the obvious choice. A jug of hot melted b.u.t.ter is all you need by way of sauce: many people will find they need nothing, but give them the option.

SCALLOPS NEWBURG.

The famous Delmonico recipe for lobster is easily adapted to scallops, as it is to other sweet, firm fish such as monkfish. It is the kind of recipe that is out of favour these days, with its cream and egg yolks and lavish blends of wine and brandy, but if you are having a meal that is light in other courses with an emphasis on vegetables and fruit, my advice would be to relax and enjoy it.

Serves 61824 scallops125 ml (4 fl oz) dry white winebouquet garni6 tablespoons b.u.t.ter4 tablespoons brandy125 ml (4 fl oz) Madeira or or medium dry or brown sherry medium dry or brown sherrysalt, pepper250 ml (8 fl oz) double cream2 medium egg yolks plus 2 tablespoon single cream Slice the scallops across into 2 discs, having separated the corals. Meanwhile, simmer the wine, an equal quant.i.ty of water and the bouquet for 5 minutes. Add the white scallop slices and stir until half cooked they should still be a little transparent, about 2 minutes. Remove the bouquet, pour off the liquor and keep for another dish. Stir in 4 tablespoons of b.u.t.ter and toss the scallops in it until they are coated and just bubbling. Flame with the brandy, then pour in the Madeira or sherry and add the scallop corals. Leave to complete the cooking do not overcook. Scoop the pieces of scallop on to a warm serving dish, season and keep warm.

Pour in the double cream and boil down the sauce to reduce it a little. Beat the yolks with the single cream, amalgamate with the sauce in the usual way, being careful not to overheat it. Stir in the remaining b.u.t.ter. Taste and check the seasoning. Pour the sauce over the scallops.

Serve with plainly boiled rice. You could shape the rice into a ring in a b.u.t.tered mould, turn it out and fill the centre with the scallops.

SCALLOPS SANTIAGO.

As I was writing this section of the book, they dug up the body of a man who had been buried in his pilgrim's garments, complete with a scallop sh.e.l.l. A medieval burial, somewhere in the Midlands, I think. That ancient desire to face eternity remembering the greatest journey of his life, reminded me of the evenings we sat out of doors on our shelf of a garden in France looking at the Milky Way the great procession of pilgrims going down to Spain and longing to go there ourselves. Not for religious reasons, but from a desire to share a little of that dominating experience of the past.

At last, in 1981, Franco gone, we found ourselves in September wandering round the cathedral and the processional s.p.a.ces of Santiago de Compostela, a long journey from Troo even in the car. How much longer on foot, with a staff and a gourd of water? How frightening very often, even with the hospitals provided by those early tour operators, the monastic orders. We ended up eating scallops in the hotel beside the cathedral, and to tell the truth they were overcooked. Why scallops anyway? They have nothing to do with St James's life as far as it is known, but legend has it that a knight was crossing a difficult inlet and in danger of drowning so called on St James to help him. He emerged safely, with his horse, both of them covered in scallop sh.e.l.ls.

Serves 618 scallops125 g (4 oz) chopped onionolive oil3 cloves garlic, finely choppedleaves of 1 medium bunch of parsley, choppedsalt, pepperpowdered clovesnutmeg6 tablespoons fine fresh white breadcrumbs Put 6 deep scallop sh.e.l.ls on a baking sheet, steadying them with circles of crumpled foil. Set the oven at gas 7, 220C (425F).

Separate and reserve the corals from the scallops. Trim and dice the white part. Soften the onion in a little oil until soft and golden. Mix in the garlic and most of the parsley and remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper, and a pinch or two of cloves and grated nutmeg to taste. Then add the scallop dice, mixing everything well together. Divide between the sh.e.l.ls, tucking in the corals on top. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and drip a little olive oil over each.

Bake at the top of the oven, for 1015 minutes, until the scallops are just done before the crumbs lightly browned. If you find the scallops are done before the crumbs are right, finish them under the grill. Scatter a pinch of parsley over each and serve.

SCALLOPS WITH WHITE WINE AND JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES.