Blanquette of Scallops and Langoustines with Ginger

Dish as in the book

Only recently I've began to really get into scallops, I've tried frozen ones, cheaper pre packed versions but nothing beats the fresh ones. So for this dish I was also in need of langoustines which luckily I had left in the freezer after using a few for a fish stock recipe, incidentally this recipe requires a fish stock which I made from the heads of the langoustines and the trimmings from sea bass fillets I would be using for the next course, stuffed fillet of sea bass with essence of red peppers.

The making of the pasta

Marco writes about this dish being an 'assembly job' in the book, you have the finest ingredients cooked in the simplest of ways and all that's needed is a neat style of presentation. I began by making the pasta for the ravioli of langoustine tail by mixing 200g type 'OO' flour with two medium eggs and a pinch of salt, this recipe makes a sensible and manageable amount of pasta compared to Marco's recipe which is for a much larger quantity.


Resting the pasta in the fridge it was onto the seafood, simply twisting the tails from the heads of the langoustine and blanching in boiling salted water for 10 seconds to release from the shell. Two of these then get placed into discs of pasta and folded over to make ravioli.

 

The liquid element to the dish is a fish veloute which is made by sweating shallots in a little butter and deglazing with vermouth, reducing right down and adding fish stock, reduce once more and add the cream and julienne strips of ginger.

Langoustine tail ravioli

Into that add the ginger, cucumber batons and the seafood, warm through gently as not to overcook, in particular the scallops.

Finished ravioli

 

 

After warming bowls in the oven the dish was ready to serve, sadly my langoustine tails weren't in any mood to come out whole on the day despite having no issues with previous batches. I used parsley in the final garnish in the absence of chervil.

Final plate (excuse the shadow)

The smell was inviting, a kind of fragrance coming from the star anise garnish and the ginger scented sauce, I must say the langoustines, ginger and the veloute were delicious and went together perfectly. For me, the scallops let the dish down a little, mainly due to personal preference. I prefer scallops crispy on the top, pan fried, and soft in the centre. They were cooked as they should have been but the texture didn't do anything for me, overall not a bad dish.