Cooking With Wine – Coquilles Saint-Jacques

A new way of cooking with wine

Welcome to our blog series on cooking with wine in which we continue our culinary adventure with a recipe for Coquilles Saint-Jacques. This dish is rich and creamy deliciousness which also looks very impressive!

Before we begin, there’s one thing that we find really handy and that’s to know a few things up front. First, how long will it take to prep, cook, set aside, refrigerate, etc. before it’s ready to eat? Second, how many people will it serve? Lastly, the grocery list.

Nice to know details

As a general rule, set aside the following times:

1. 30 minutes preparation
2. 90 minutes cooking
3. Serves 6 people

Grocery List

• Fish stock (1 and 1/2 cups)
• Onion flakes (1 tablespoon) or finely chopped onion (3 tablespoons)
• Parsley flakes (1 teaspoon) or fresh chopped parsley (1 tablespoon)
• Thyme (1 sprig)
• Bay leaf (1)
• Fresh ground black pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
• Dry white wine (1 and 1/2 cups)
• Baby scallops (1 pound)
• Prawns (1 pound)
• Button mushrooms (3/4 pound)
• Butter or margarine (8 tablespoons)
• All-purpose flour (2 tablespoons)
• Eggs (2 yolks)
• Milk (1 and 1/4 cups)
• Lemon (1)
• Sea salt (1 teaspoon)
• White pepper (1/4 teaspoon)
• Gruyere cheese (1/4 cup)
• Large scallop shells (6)
• Fresh parsley (6 sprigs)

Make the Court Bouillon

This court bouillon is used in each stage of the recipe. Just to be safe, it’s a good idea to have extra bottles of the white wine you’re using in the recipe. You might want to have a few sips during the cooking stage. Also, you’ll need to serve some with dinner!

First, the basic bouillon:

• Place 1 and 1/2 cups of fish stock in a small saucepan
• Add 1 tablespoon of onion flakes, 1 teaspoon of parsley flakes, 1 sprig of thyme and 1 bay leaf
• Grind 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper into the saucepan
• Bring to a boil over high heat
• Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes

Next, we’ll add the wine:

• Add 1 and 1/2 cups of dry white wine to the saucepan
• Continue to simmer uncovered for an additional 15 minutes
• When it has reduced to 1 cup, strain the court bouillon into a medium saucepan

Prepare the Seafood and Mushrooms

First, the seafood:

• Rinse 1 pound of each of baby scallops and prawns
• Cut scallops and prawns into 1/4-inch thickness
• Add scallops and prawns to the court bouillon
• Simmer for 4 minutes
• Remove scallops and prawns from the court bouillon with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl
• Set the court bouillon aside

Next, the mushrooms:

• Clean and slice 1 pound of button mushrooms
• Place the mushrooms in a sauté pan
• Add 4 tablespoons of butter or margarine
• Sauté for 5 minutes
• Add scallops and shrimp to the sauté pan
• Stir for 1 minute to warm the seafood
• Remove from the heat and cover the sauté pan

Make the sauce

First, a roux:

• Melt 4 tablespoons of butter or margarine in another sauté pan
• Add 2 tablespoons of flour
• Stir often and cook over low heat for 10 minutes to make a roux
• Remove the sauté pan from the heat

Second, an egg yolk mixture:

• Place 2 egg yolks in a small bowl
• Add 1/4 cup of milk
• Mix well with a small whisk
• Slowly add 2 tablespoons of the court bouillon and mix well with the whisk

Next, the sauce:

• Heat the remaining court bouillon
• Slowly add it to the roux, whisking constantly
• Continuing to whisk constantly and add 1 cup of milk
• Return the sauté pan to a medium-high heat
• Stir constantly with a whisk for 5 minutes until it has thickened
• Reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute
• Add the egg yolk mixture
• Stir with a whisk for 1 minute
• Remove the sauté pan from the heat

Combine the Filling

• Transfer the warm seafood and mushrooms to the sauté pan with the sauce
• Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• Put 1/4 teaspoon of each of lemon juice and white pepper into the sauce
• Stir to mix all ingredients well

Baking the Coquilles Saint-Jacques

• Make sure the second and middle shelves of the oven are in place
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
• Fill the 6 scallop shells
• Grate 1/4 cup of white Gruyere cheese over the shells
• Bake for 15 minutes
• Broil on second shelf of the oven for 1 – 2 minutes until browned slightly

Serving

• Serve over a folded napkin on a side plate
• Garnish with lemon wedges and fresh parsley
• Slice a baguette to be served on the side

Pairing

We recommend serving this meal with a bottle of your very own DIY craft white wine. It’s always best to serve the same wine used during cooking. This always helps to enhance both the flavours in the dish and also the wine.

Tips

• This Cooking With Wine – Coquilles Saint-Jacques recipe can serve as a light lunch or as a dinner appetizer
• If you don’t have any fish stock, you substitute with chicken or vegetable stock
• You can use shrimp instead of prawns if you prefer
• If you use shelled prawns, reserve the shells and freeze them so you can make more fish stock
• Place the solids from the court bouillon in your compost bin
• You can use black pepper if you don’t have white pepper
• Instead of Gruyere cheese, you can use white cheddar or Emmenthaler cheese
• You can pipe mashed potatoes around the rim of the shells to keep the sauce from spilling out

We hope you enjoy this Cooking With Wine – Coquilles Saint-Jacques recipe.