beurre blanc

In an effort to be more organized with my food blogging, I've decided to do some sort of food post every Monday.

This week's adventure? Scallops with Cilantro Gremolata and Ginger Lime Beurre Blanc that I made as part of New Years Day dinner. (recipe from Gourmet. sigh.)

Step one, don't be intimidated by the words "Gremolata" or "Beurre Blanc". Neither has more than 5 ingredients, takes very long or much effort to make.

Step two, make the Gremolata:

1 finely chopped clove of garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro
finely grated zest of one lime

put everything in a bowl and stir. (see what I mean about it being easy to make?)

Step three, make the Beurre Blanc:

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (the juice of the lime you just zested.)
1/4 cup dry white wine
8 tablespoons cold butter (1 stick)
salt and white pepper

simmer the shallots and ginger in the wine and lime juice in a small sauce pan until the liquid is reduced by half.

Turn the heat down as low as you can and whisk in the butter, one tablespoon at a time making sure it's fully integrated before adding another tablespoon. Be sure not to over heat your beurre blanc or it will "break".
(a butter sauce "breaks" when it gets above a certain temperature and the oil and the milk solids separate. If it happens to you, don't worry, it will still taste good.)

When all the butter is in, strain the sauce through a fine sieve and discard the solids.

(Or spread them on little bits of left over popovers like Steven did. Delicious!)

Put the sauce back back in the pot, stir in a little salt and a little white pepper, turn the heat off and put a lid on it to keep it warm.

Step 4, cook the scallops:

I made 12 scallops, instead of the 24 the recipe calls for because the scallops we had were giant. The trick to cooking scallops is to touch them as little as possible. When you move them around the pan they release water and get soggy. Put them in a pan over medium high heat with a little bit of olive oil and wait as long as you can stand it. Change the music, check your email, set the table, whatever it takes for you to not touch them for a 3 or 4 minutes. Flip them once and wait another minute or two and they're done. (I always cut into one just to make sure.)

Step 5, put it all on a plate:

Make a little puddle of beurre blanc, place a scallop in the center, sprinkle with the gemolata and serve.

If you want to serve salad right after this, don't dress it and put it in the same plates so people can sop up their left over beurre blanc with their salad. It's delicious.