Greeks love their seafood and it’s no wonder…one is never more than a three hour drive from the sea.
One of my faves has to be scallops and when I recently found some live scallops in their shell, I pounced on the opportunity to cook with such a rare delight.
When one finds scallops in the shell at the market, you need not worry about having a tough time shucking the scallops or cleaning them – both are quite easy.
One only needs a tea towel and a dull knife to open up these beautiful shells (which make for wonderful presentation pieces too). After you’ve opened the scallops, you will see the scallop meat in the center with an ugly, slimy oyster-like meat surrounding it and usually the orange roe (a delicacy).
The meat detaches easily from the shell – usually just life and twisting the meat away works fine. After, the slimy meat that surrounds the scallop can be remove by hand and discarded. At this point you should have the round piece of scallop, the orange roe attached and a slightly off-white tendon that can and should be removed with a sharp knife (too tough to eat).
Now, you should have a cleaned scallop, roe and shell ready for cooking and presentation. On the day I cooked these scallops, I had some left over roasted red peppers, some Manouri cheese and homemade breadcrumbs from some leftover bread.
One should NEVER buy breadcrumbs. I find leftover bread to make much tastier breadcrumbs than the stuff found at the supermarket (more like sawdust).
In keeping with my philosophy that seafood should taste like seafood, I kept this dish simple and made a play on the classic bacon-wrapped scallops. In this instance, the scallops are wrapped with roasted red peppers and laid on a bed of seasoned breadcrumbs with some herbs, grated Manouri cheese and the minced roe.
This is my own little creation, perfect way to start off an evening of seafood and drinks and my culinary gift to my friend, Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita and Joe of Italyville.
Their event is devoted to Seven Fishes Feast, an Italian tradition of dining on seafood on Christmas Eve.
I’m sure Maryann and Joe would welcome a platter of these baked scallops…they are easy to prepare, taste absolutely fantastic and gawd-darn-perty!
Broiled Scallops (ΧτÎνια ψητά)
6 -7 fresh scallops, cleaned with roe reserved
slices of roasted red peppers
sea salt
ground black pepper
Breading
1/2 cup homemade, course breadcrumbs
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. of olive oil
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
4 Tbsp. grated Manouri cheese
scallop roe, finely chopped
1 tsp. dry Greek oregano
4 Tbsp. tomato juice
pepper to taste (enough salt in the mixture)
Pre-heated oven set to Broil
- Pre-heat your oven and set to Broil. In a bowl, mix all of your breading mixture with a spoon until incorporated. Div and spoon equal parts of the breading into each scallop shell and reserve.
- Wrap a ribbon of roasted red pepper around each scallop and place on the bed of breading. Drizzle the scallops with olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.
- Adjust your baking rack in the oven to be about 6 inches below your broiler. Place your scallops on a baking tray and broil for 5-6 minutes or until the scallops have turned golden and the breading firm and slighty toasted.
- Serve on platter and serve a dry, Greek white wine, such as the Domaine Porto Carras Malagouzia.
46 Responses
Great tutorial on cleaning live scallops! And they look delicious! In New England, we can get Taylor bay scallops — they come in the shell and can be steamed with wine just like mussels… no icky black stuff to clean away.
Peter,
We always make this as part of my husband’s family’s 7 Fishes on Christmas Eve, however, I have never seen the roasted pepper addition.
Thank you for the good idea.
Stacey
Brava, Peter, my friend! These look amazing! Merry Christmas! xox
Clean my own scallop? I think that is one thing I should learn. Living here in America, everything is so conveniently prepared for you. If you want scallop, it is ready for you, cleaned and ready to cook! so I am spoil.
I do make my own bread crumb, I baked my own bread every other day, so you can imagine how much left over bread I have.
As always, your dish look scrumptious!
Cheers,
Elra
we sold scallops in our fish and chip shop in New Zealand, these ones look great. i must admit that my favorite seafood is oysters – i;ve only had those once in greece
wow…this one really got me. I love the idea of the ‘oreganata’ you created with the crumbs, cheese, and roe. I just know this had to be delicious! Wish I had one right now.
Lovely plating! I definitely agree that you should make an effort to use fresh breadcrumbs, or breadcrumbs you dry yourself (unless you’re using panko, I guess!), because it just tastes better.
What a perfect little dish! I’m jealous that you can find scallops in the shell. I’ve never, ever found them down here. Anyway, feel free to send a dozen or two my way. I adore scallops and yours look fab!
Oooh I love those Peter! I really like ‘Coquille St Jacques’ and this is similar but yours look extra nice.
Yum yum can you pass one over please!
These look fabulous, Peter. D loves scallops, so maybe I’ll make them for him when he returns from the East Coast.
Is nice and tasty how all you make my dear, Love them!!!xxGloria
Beautiful Peter! I love that you use the roe mixed with the breadcrumbs and cheese. Served on the shell makes it look so elegant!
A great lesson on cleaning scallops Peter. The flavours are very complementary and these would be perfect to serve during the festivities or any time of the year for that matter.
Oh my gosh! These look great and I love your “stuffing”. My jaw hung open when I saw those shells because, I kid you not, for my own Italian tradition of dining on seafood Christmas eve, I’m going to recreate a stuffed clam shell recipe that my mom used to make. I have no recipe to follow, just memories, so I may borrow parts of your recipe to make it happen. You’ve made me a very happy girl today!
I love scallops. We make it a point ot eat them at least twice a week. We get them fresh off the boat. And, yes, the breadcrumbs should always come from bread never a can! Be good tonight! lol
Peter, I’ve missed you while on my self-imposed hiatus. So glad to catch up with you and others….I need to read more about the infamous trip to NYC. And I’ll blog more, trying to get my act together!
Nice nice nice scallops.
Peter, thanks for the input on opening and cleaning scallops. They look scrumptious and they happen to be a favorite of mine. I’m thinking Christmas eve.
I am always so envious of the fresh seafood and the variety you get there… it is not the same here in Barbados.
Unfortunately I don’t like seafood as much as most Greeks, but I *do* enjoy scallops quite a bit. This looks great and I love the presentation.
those sounds wonderful. I love scallops! Nice one Peter!
I love scallops, but have never purchased them in the shell. Yours look great!
I love the presentation of your dish Peter.
I can’t even remember when I last had scallops. I can’t believe you found live ones in our area!
The cleaning of them sounds like a job though, maybe you should just cook them for me – I’ll bring the vino!
These are simply beautiful! I have always loved scallops, but hadn’t tried the roe until last year. It is so delicate and tasty.
I’ve been wanting to do the Seven Fishes Feast for a couple of years now, but Christmas Eve is so darn busy and our church service is at 7p.m. which is right in the middle of the time we would be feasting.
Thanks for the vicarious pleasure…
Malaysians like their seafood a lot too, but I don’t think they eat scallops this way.
I was thinking, could you use couscous instead of breadcrumbs?
Oh my, these look so tasty .. I want one now!
How beautiful the presentation is
I love scalops , don’t make them that often as it is expensive.
This looks super delciious.
I loove when i find fresh scallops in the shell at the market. Why the ones we find have the roe removed most of the time. It’s the best part for chrissake! Great recipe Monsieur Peter.
I like all kind of sea food:)
Nicw idea served with manouri cheese!!
I have never had a scallpo with the roe. This looks heavnly. I will make it point to seek live scallops out.
Delicious Peter! I loved that you kept the shell and served the scallops on them. So classy and pretty!
My husband is a huge fan of scallops so I am always looking for a great recipe for them. I appreciate this post! Elegant and delicious.
I am so happy to have found this recipe. Scallops are on sale this week and now I just might make this delicious looking dish.But i don’t think I will be cleaning my own:)
Yes sir – this looks good!
This looks so amazing! Now I really must buy some scallops if I can find some for a decent price.
Merci!
This sure doesn’t look like stodgy winter fare! Definitely reminiscent of a sunnier clime. Nice.
My husband would LOVE this—we host a big seafood spread every New Year’s Eve, so this would fit into our tradition quite nicely!
I’ve never made scallops before -these look great. Hear hear on not buying breadcrumbs. Shudder.
Beautiful presentation Peter, and wonderful recipe! We just love scallops here too and yours look absolutely delicious! Kala Kristouyena!
What a great dish Peter. I “heart” scallops! I totally agree with you on the breadcrumbs.. I have memories of my mom blending bread… much better than sawdust. Thanks for participating and happy holidays.
These scallops look droolicious! Not sure about cleaning my own scallops though. lol.
Those look good! Great presentation!
Oh, I adore scallops! These look fantastic. Never realised they were so easy to shuck – I thought it was the same thumb-threatening extravaganza as oysters… Agree 100% on making own breadcrumbs. I sometimes buy a wholwheat baguette and leave it to go stale, then blitz it in the food processor to get crumbs and freeze them so that I always have them on tap!
Hi Peter, I’ve never eaten rabbit, and I don’t think I could. But this!!! …Magnificent! I wish I could find the shell, love your presentation!