Seared Scallops over Micro Greens with Orange Tarragon Vinaigrette with Butter Poached Lobster
- Level: Intermediate
- Yield: 4 servings
- Total: 1 hr 45 min
- Prep: 30 min
- Cook: 1 hr 15 min
Ingredients
Vinaigrette:
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 big sprig fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Gastrique:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Salt
1/2 fresh mango
Lobster:
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 lobster tails
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
Salt
Crostini:
1 clove garlic
8 slices baguette, sliced diagonally about 1/4-inch thick
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
Salt
Assembly:
4 large scallops
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Grapeseed oil
1 1/2 cups microgreens
8 whole fresh chives
Directions
- For the vinaigrette: In a small pot, add the orange juice and tarragon sprig. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and reduce the juice by half. When reduced, remove the tarragon sprig, and chill the juice in the refrigerator. When cooled, add the white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Whisk together. Slowly drizzle the grapeseed oil while whisking until you get an equal balance of oil to juice. Taste, then adjust the seasoning if necessary. Put aside.
- For the gastrique: In a small pot, add the sugar, apple cider vinegar and some salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the mango, and simmer for 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender, blender or even a hand mixer to blend well. Then strain through a fine mesh sieve. (If you don't have a fine sieve, you can use a regular strainer lined with cheese cloth or a clean dish towel.) You want to remove any little bits of mango that the blender missed. Put in the refrigerator to cool.
- For the lobster: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the white vinegar. Drop in the lobster tails and simmer them until they just begin to turn bright orange/red. Let cool and remove the lobster meat from the shell. Chop the meat into pieces, just smaller than bite size.
- Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the garlic and shallots. Saute until translucent. Add the remaining butter and melt. Add a good pinch of salt. Add the lobster and stir to coat with the butter. Simmer for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and keep warm.
- For the crostini: Preheat the oven broiler. Cut a clove of garlic in half, and rub both sides of the bread with the cut sides of the garlic. Brush one side of the bread with olive oil, and sprinkle very lightly with herbes de Provence and salt. (If you don't have HDP, you can use a mixture of dried thyme, basil, rosemary, marjoram, sage, savory and fennel seeds, or any one of those herbs you happen to have.) Lay the bread on a cookie sheet and reserve.
- To assemble: Start with the scallops. Pat your scallops dry with paper towels. They MUST be dry in order to get a nice sear and crust on the outside. (If you don't, you'll have a scallop just steeping in its own liquid, getting mushy, with no color, sear or flavor.)
- With a paring knife, score the top of the scallops with a crisscross. You want to just score the outer layer, 1/16-inch deep. Sprinkle the scallops with salt and pepper. In a scorching hot pan with grapeseed oil, put your scallops in scored-side down. Grapeseed oil has a very high smoke point, which allows you to cook at higher temperatures for longer before it starts to smoke and burn.
- The scallops will tell you when it's ok to lift them and take a peek at your sear. When you're able to pick the scallops up with no resistance at all, you can then take a peek to see if you're ready to flip it. You want a nice rich golden brown color on your scallop. Once you've achieved the proper color, flip your scallops and remove the pan from the heat.
- Put your crostini in the oven to toast.
- Add the vinaigrette to your greens a little at a time. You want to just cover the greens with the vinaigrette, we don't want to drown it. Think light.
- Now on each serving plate, place a silver-dollar-size portion of the dressed micro greens in the center of the plate. Take a teaspoon of the mango gastrique, and put it on the plate in front of the greens. Then with the back side of the spoon, run it through the middle of the sauce. Take 3 or 4 pieces of the lobster, blot them on a paper towel, then place them in the center of your gastrique schmear. Place your scallop on top of your micro greens. Place 2 crostinis off to the side of the scallop. Then cross 2 whole chives over each plate and you're done.