Experiment 12 - Scallops Mornay - The Results

Ingredients list

As should be obvious from all my posts referencing the Hartford Courant, I lived in Connecticut for quite a long time.  When I think of "scallops", my first thought is little, sweet, bay scallops.  I don't know if those are just generally not available here in Virginia, or what the deal is.  The recipe didn't state which type specifically, but I am almost sure they would have meant bay.  Be that as it may, I went to a local specialty seafood store and ended up buying sea scallops.  I also got a bit of a lesson on sea scallops vs bay scallops, and on dry pack vs wet pack.  It was interesting, but too much to go into here.  At the end of the day (to coin a cliche), I paid $10 for half a pound of dry pack sea scallops.  These recipe experiments can be expensive!

Although this will sound contradictory, the preparation was simple, but complicated.  Simple in that there were no fancy techniques, but complicated because there was a lot going on.

Let's start ...

First step was to combine the wine (I used a pinot grigio, unoaked.  I don't know how dry this is considered, but learning about wine is another ongoing project), salt, pepper, and 3/4 a cup of water (hey, why wasn't that in the ingredients list?) in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Then the scallops and mushrooms got added and everything was brought back to a boil, then covered and reduced to simmer "until the scallops [were] tender" (or about five minutes).  The scallops and mushrooms were then removed and the liquid was put back on a boil for 10 to 15 minutes to reduce to "about 1/2 a cup."  Not really sure how to figure that, actually, so after 10 minutes I poured it all into a measuring cup, saw that I still have over 3/4 cup, so I dumped it back into the pan for the rest of the time.

While I was reducing the scallop stock (so to speak), in another saucepan, I melted the butter and sauted the onions.  I went off-script and added a bit of minced garlic, because who doesn't like some garlic?  When the onions were tender (or in my case, browned a bit), I added the flour, milk and reduced liquid.  Stirred and cooked until it was thickened and bubbly, then tossed in the cheese and continued to stir until that melted.  I was then supposed to add salt and pepper if needed.  The salt was fine (see below), but I don't mind a little more pepper, ever, so I added some.

The sauce then came off the heat and the scallops and mushrooms got added back in.  The recipe then called for everything to be poured into two 8 to 10 oz individual casseroles.  I don't have any such thing, so I used a ceramic quiche dish, which turned out to be just the right size.  This got tossed into a 375 oven for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, I cooked up some yellow rice and made a salad.  When the main dish was done, I took it from the oven and sprinkled with the chopped parsley.

et voila -

Verdict: A little salty.  Although maybe that's in the whole bay vs sea thing.  Also, I imagine that the official version of this dish might not be so "tan" looking.  This is probably due to a few things - I didn't use "white pepper", since I don't have any on hand, and while I'm sure there may be a subtle taste difference, my cabinets are overflowing with spices as it is.  I also cooked the onions until they were browned, which wasn't really called for.  But this recipe is definitely a keeper, it tasted really good, saltiness be damned.  I might add  a touch more cheese, but I don't think it's supposed to be a really cheesy sauce.

Lessons Learned - While fresh ingredients are the preferable choice in most cases, the frugal person in me has a problem with the wastefulness inherent in fixed size packages available in the supermarkets.  I bought a "bundle" of fresh parsley and a package of sliced mushrooms this week.  Here is what is leftover -

I might eat a few things this week that would look nice with a parsley garnish, and I guess I could make something that calls for mushrooms.  But that's 7.1 ounces of parsley!  (Yes, I weighed it).  Maybe with the warmer weather, I'll be able to visit some farm markets and get more appropriate sizes.  Alternately, I will not be afraid to go ahead and use dried herbs, or canned/jarred vegetables, for future recipes.  Fresh

Tools needed - nothing new.  I don't need to fill up my cabinets with "individual casserole dishes" that would only get used once in a blue moon.

Skills needed - nothing new this week.