I grew up eating Coquilles St. Jacques although I remember it being reserved for special occasions. Coquilles is made with scallops, mushrooms, shallots, brandy or white wine, cream, butter… ya know, good stuff.
The recipe calls for the scallop and sauce mixture to be divided into separate dishes so it's a good recipe to make ahead and take out one serving at a time as needed. Traditionally, it's served in scallop shells, but I don't have enough so I use Le Creuset French Onion Soup Bowls and small fish trays.
From my family’s Coquilles St. Jacques recipe: “This is Grandmaman’s signature Holiday recipe. For a number of years, this recipe was protected from any eyes or cooks outside of the family, so protect it with your lives!”
But after looking at a lot of Coquilles recipes, they all follow the same recipe and guide and can be as complicated or as easy as you want it to be. Another one that I have found and made is from Ina Garten and you can find it HERE.
But I’m going to share my grandmother’s recipe with you.
First, a story.
Just kidding. Here’s the recipe:
Coquilles St. Jacques
Seafood Medley
Melt 2-3 t. of butter in a large skillet at medium heat.
Add 1/2 cup of finely chopped shallots and sauté until they are translucent or clear but do not fully brown.
Add 1 lbs. of (Maine) scallops and sauté until they are cooked.
Remove the scallops and shallots from the mixture with a slotted spoon reserving the liquid in the pan.
Add 1 cup of sliced mushrooms to the reserved liquid in the pan and increase to higher heat.
Sauté the mushrooms until the liquid is absorbed by the mushrooms.
Set the cooked mushrooms, shallots, and scallops to the side and make the white sauce.
White Sauce
Melt 9 T. of butter in a large saucepan at medium heat.
Blend in 7 T. of flour
Cook on low heat and stir.
Slowly add 4 C. of light cream
This is called a roux. Stir the sauce constantly until it thickens and do not allow it to boil.
Add the mushrooms, shallots, and scallops to the white sauce and mix until integrated.
Add 1/4 cup of sherry to the mixture and simmer.
Optional: Add other seafood to the mixture such as shrimp, crab meat, or lobster meat.
Crumbs
1 cup finely chopped bread crumbs or panko
1/4 corn flakes
Blend the bread crumbs and corn flakes in a food processor
Melt 4 T. of butter in a pan on low
Add 2 t. of Worcestershire sauce to the butter
Optional: add a dash of Tabasco sauce
Add the bread crumbs to the pan and stir. You do not need to brown the crumbs, just make sure the crumbs are mixed with the butter.
Putting it all together
Preheat the broiler and place the oven rack in the middle.
Use a baking sheet and arrange the scallop shells, fish dishes, onion soup bowls, or other small ovenproof dishes on the sheet. (You’ll need 8-12 depending on the size of the scallops and whether or not you added other seafood.)
Spoon the seafood mixture into each shell and sprinkle the top with the bread crumb mixture.
Place the baking sheet with the seafood dishes under the broiler for about 5-10 minutes but it’s best to just keep an eye because the bread crumbs can burn quickly. Take the pan out as soon as the bread crumbs start to brown.
Taste! But give it a minute because it’s hot! Enjoy!
