This week is a great dish, a classic Franco/Scottish recipe that showcases fresh seafood. This is a recipe I wrote, cooked for myself and have served at both restaurants. As it is a dish I enjoy so much, I couldn't resist highlighting it. It is very tasty and simple with great Scottish ingredients.

I am sure that you will absolutely love it, as will your guests. Remember to get the best, freshest quality products from your local producer or market. Use the best quality eggs and the freshest the fish you can, as the better the ingredients, the better the results. I can never say it loud enough; there is no food without ingredients of a high-quality provenance.

My top tip when buying scallops is to make sure they are still in the shell! Be adventurous and open the scallops yourself, you can even ask the kids to help! They will love it and you can use the trimmings to enhance the flavour of the stock. Make sure to keep the roe and cook it at the same time with your scallops, just cook them lightly for less time than the scallop meat.

I hope you will enjoy this fantastic recipe as much as I do.

SCALLOP AND SALTED COD SAUCE ECOSSAISE

Serves 4

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

4 x fresh scallops on the shell (if prepared by your fishmonger, ask for the trimmings)

For the Stock

Scallop trims

1 shallot, finely diced

1 small leek, slice very finely sliced

Knob of butter

Olive oil

1 spring thyme

1 bay leaf

1 carrot, finely sliced

½ glass of white wine

1 clove of garlic, crushed

For the salted cod

200g fresh cod fillet

1 tbsp of olive oil

2 pinches coarse salt

1 spring of fresh thyme

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

For the sauce Ecossaise

3 boiled eggs

4 tbsp of plain flour

1 tbsp of butter

A large glass of milk

Salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper & nutmeg for seasoning

Method

1. The day before, place the fresh cod on a tray and sprinkle the coarse salt all over, add the fresh thyme and crushed garlic. Cover with cling film and keep refrigerated for 12 hours.

2. In a pan and on a low heat, sweat the shallots in a bit of olive oil and butter for 2 minutes. Add in the finely sliced carrots, white leeks and crushed garlic, sweat for another 3 to 4 minutes, add in the scallops trims, the white wine, the bay leaf and the spring of thyme. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain and keep the stock until needed for the sauce Ecossaise. Discard everything else. This should give you roughly a large glass worth of stock.

3. On the day, boil the eggs. Keep the yolks to one side, and slice the egg white very finely. Keep to one side.

4. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add in the sieved flour and whisk it on a low heat for 2 minutes, then pour in your milk and whisk until it boils. Slowly pour in your cold scallop stock still whisking at all time, simmer for another 5 minutes whisking again. By then you should have a sauce of a good consistency. Season with cayenne pepper, nutmeg, white pepper and a little salt. Don’t over salt!

5. Rinse and cook your cod on a buttered tray for 7 minutes at 180°C degrees covered with foil. Once cooked, leave to cool and flake it into your sauce. Add in the egg yolks and give it a firm stir using a wooden spatula, then add in the finely diced egg whites. Taste and then season again, the sauce should have a good constancy and full of flavour! Season again if required.

6. Cook the scallops in a hot frying pan with olive oil and butter. Sear them well and cook for 2 minutes on each side, do not cook them too long (try to keep them raw but warm at the heart).

7. Fill empty shells with your warm sauce Ecossaise and finish with a sprinkle of finely sliced parsley.

8. Place the cooked scallops on top and serve.