Coquille St Jaques Birthday Dinner

Well my wife had a birthday that ends in a Big Zero so I made her a Scallop Dish from Her younger days. I bounced in the kitchen telling Her 45 minutes and it will be on the Bar. Even the wine was a fight, the wax so tough I had to use a butter knife to pry it off.
2 hours later I was done.

Anyway after cooking this I think some of the big Rez fillets could be cut in large cubes and prepared the same way. I made a pasta side boiling the asparagus tough ends to make a stock along with leftover spiral cut ham and Shallots. Thickened both sauces with a butter roux. The Scallops, both sauces, all the prep, even the Hollindaise took time. The Scallops were poached in their sauce first to almost cook through then quartered, added to the shells, the cream sauce spooned over then bread crumbs and finally topped with grated Gruyere cheese topping before popping in the 400 degree oven.

Coquille St Jaques recipes are around the internet.

I included a shot of my kitchen, at one point I had 7 different eyes going. The wine is Prisoner Pino Noir.

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Very impressive

Artie food artiste you are...

Thanks, I posted a thank you before but when I hit the "post quick reply" button my post was deleted.

I think the Scallop dish will work well with large crappie fillets (close to 2lb fish) cubed up. Cut the belly and thinner section off to crispy fry for a side. The sauce can be made ahead of time, fish cubed up early, bread crumbs come in a box, butter cubed early, the cheese must be grated over the bread crumbs at the end of the prep, grate it early and it just lumps together. I baked this off at 400 degrees, a high temperature would be needed or the fish would dry too much as it cooked.

Here on the coast we just don't get the large crappie. 1-1/2 lbs is a big one. Flowing estuaries produce the best tasting fish since they swim most of the time but they don't gain a lot of weight or store fat. My plan is to try with Ross Barnett fillets after my next trip.

scallops are just divine , seafood and desert all in one , mmmmm yummmmy

My wife's birthday is in September. Mississippi ain't that far away. Just sayin......:biggrin

The sauce is super, takes a few steps to make. Scallop water is not available but clam water is. Don't know how it would work but the River is down here so I'm going tomorrow to see if I can find a few Crappie in the pound size. If I can or bigger I'm going to see how Crappie diced into cubes will work. If it works well maybe I can had off a mason jar of sauce to you.

BTW you can buy the Scallop shells online, it's where we got ours.