The Sophisticated Scallop

I had the pleasure of befriending a very talented chef/baker/caterer extraordinaire, Scott Bishop, while working at a Food & Wine Festival in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Scott was, during that weekend, putting out seriously copious amounts of food to satisfy the masses, on hand to see cooking demos from the likes of Guy Fieri, Aaron McCargo, Jr, and Fabio Viviani. If you're ever in Hilton Head, you gotta look him up!

Here, Chef Scott is kind enough to regale us with a simple and savory dish, that pays tribute to a South Carolinian staple, the Scallop.

SCALLOPS AND THYME RAVIOLI w/ Buerre Blanc

• Cut appx 2 doz dry pack Sea Scallops into small dice; season with salt and pepper



• Add 2 tbsp. olive oil and 4 thyme sprigs



• Stir and let sit appx 10-15 mins.



• Fill 60 wonton wrappers with 3/4 tsp. of Scallop filling, seal with egg wash, trim excess wrapper to make raviolis



• Poach Ravioli in approx. 1 qt. fish stock (or clam juice) appx 1 min (or until they float)



• Drain and drizzle buerre blanc sauce (see below) over and serve immediately

Beurre blanc, or white butter, is a classic and delicious French wine and butter sauce. Versatile and simple to make, beurre blanc has a light texture and rich flavor that goes great with different types of seafood.

• Mince one shallot and place in a medium saucepan with 1/4c white wine and 1/4c white wine vinegar.



• While gently stirring, cook over medium heat until the mixture has been reduced to the equivalent of two tablespoons. This should take about six minutes. Turn down the heat and allow the mixture to cool a little bit before adding the next ingredient.
  



• Slice a stick of butter into 1/2 inch cubes. With the burner now on low heat, add a few of these butter cubes at a time and whisk them into the shallot/wine/vinegar reduction you have made. Each batch of butter cubes should be pretty much emulsified before adding the next batch.
  



• Chop 1 tbsp. Italian parsley.
  



• Add the chopped parsley, as well as a dash of salt and white pepper and stir until well blended. This will yield approximately 1/2 cup of Beurre Blanc sauce.