13082 Serves 8 Wed Aug 06 08:22:03 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 03 13:06:49 -0800 2009 Licensed http://www.chow.com/recipes/13082 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:06:49 GMT The area around Paris has long been the culinary center for French haute cuisine. This combination of just-cooked slices of sea scallops separated by caviar, resting in a sauce of lemon cream flavored with diced mussels is a classic representation of the sea, as expressed by the elegant cookery of the masters. The dish features sea scallops and mussels, which France is known for, and caviar, a delicacy from the Russian czars that the French have adopted as their own.

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Gently place the scallop slices in a resealable plastic bag.

Combine the clarified butter, wine, lemon juice, garlic, and salt and white pepper and mix to form a marinade. Pour the marinade over the scallop slices and marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat the butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat and sauté the shallots until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.

Deglaze the pan over medium-high heat with the wine, then add the stock, cream, bouquet garni, and lemon zest. Reduce the sauce by half, then add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Cook 2 minutes.

Stir in the mussels, cook 30 seconds, and season with salt and pepper. Reserve warm. (The mussels are added just before service and cooked briefly just to heat them through and to release their juices.)

Heat a grill and lightly brush it with olive oil. Quickly sear the scallop slices on one side only, forming attractive grill marks, to the point that they just begin to turn opaque (They will continue to cook slightly when removed from the heat.) Reserve.

Build stacks of 3 slices of scallops, alternating with a scant ½ teaspoon [3 mL] of the caviar between each layer, with the top scallop slice showing the best grill marks.

Ladle a small pool of the sauce in the center of a small plate. Place a scallop sandwich on the sauce. Garnish with a lemon zest curl.

]]> http://www.chow.com Arthur L. Meyer 50 Main 8 large sea scallops, trimmed and sliced horizontally into thirds

]]> 1 tablespoon [15 mL] clarified butter

]]> 2 tablespoons [30 mL] white wine

]]> 1 teaspoon [5 mL] fresh lemon juice

]]> 2 garlic cloves, minced very fine

]]> Salt and white pepper to taste

]]> 1 tablespoon [15 mL] unsalted butter

]]> 3 shallots, minced

]]> 2 garlic cloves, minced

]]> ½ cup [120 mL] dry white wine

]]> 1 cup [240 mL] chicken stock

]]> 1½ cups [360 mL] cream

]]> Bouquet garni of 1 sprig of lemon thyme and 2 sprigs of parsley

]]> ½ teaspoon [3 mL] lemon zest, grated

]]> 1 teaspoon [5 mL] fresh lemon juice

]]> 4 fresh mussels, chopped fine

]]> Salt and white pepper to taste

]]> 1 ounce [30 g] Sevruga caviar or Beluga or Osetra, if not cost prohibitive

]]> Lemon zest curls for garnish

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