Scallops Galician

C ow prepare scallops Galicia .

Today I leave you with another of my best Christmas recipes , baked scallops au gratin on breadcrumbs, Galician style, as they are made at home.

For me one of the most traditional in Nadal’s time since my mother prepares it every year.

It is one of their specialties with baked lamb and Noiteboa’s star dish.

It is a simple dish but you have to scratch your pockets because the scallops on these dates start to rise in price like foam … but it is worth it.

I advise you to buy them frozen and keep them in the freezer in order to prepare one of the recipes that I present to you throughout the year: Empanada de vieiras or zamburiñas ,  Tagliatelle with scallop sauce   or a little rice with crab and scallops .

You save a few euros and you have all the quality of this incredible seafood. A plate of assured success, one of my star dishes, very simple and easy to prepare. If you feel like you can even prepare some scallops in puff pastry , another option to succeed on these dates.

I hope you like them and dare to prepare them accompanied by a good white wine from the land.

Before cooking the scallops

This recipe is super easy to prepare although it is important to choose the main ingredient well: the scallops .

1. It is essential to remove the sand that fresh scallops usually bring so that it is not bothersome and does not spoil the recipe. It should be kept about two hours before cooking in a saucepan or large plastic container.
2. We must add water, a good handful of coarse salt and change the water three or four times. The scallops will drink and drop the sand.
3. Try to buy them fresh before Christmas so as not to eat the price increase of those dates, from 3 to 5 euros per scallop.
4. Buy those that you are going to consume and freeze them to have them at hand in any recipe.
5. I advise you not to throw the shells away, save them for other possible dishes.
6. In some frozen stores you can buy them in bags of 20-30 units, they are usually smaller but their price is lower. Of course when preparing add 2-3 scallops for each shell.

Preparation of the base of the Galician scallops

1. Peel and finely chop the onions, there should be very small pieces so that at the end of the preparation it is not appreciated.
2. Chop the ham, either by hand or in a mincer. I prefer in the mincer so that it is uniform and that we do not find different sizes, remember that what should stand out in this recipe are the scallops. We reserve on a plate.
3. We put a casserole on the fire with the extra virgin olive oil and add the minced ham.
4. Cook over low heat for one or two minutes to seal the ham. We add the chopped onion (drained, usually drops some water).
5. We fry about 3 minutes over medium heat so that the moisture of the onion evaporates. We remove in all the process to avoid that it sticks to the bottom of the casserole, we lower to slow fire during. We do not want to be burned and the base of the recipe spoiled.
6. We add the glass of white wine from my land. Always use a good wine, the same one that you are going to drink at lunch and the recipe will thank you.
7. We remove allowing the alcohol to evaporate for 5 minutes. We introduce  the homemade fried tomato that will give it a characteristic touch and flavor.
8. We cook for another 10 minutes over low heat, if you like the touch of parsley it is time to add it. We remove from the fire and let it rest.
9. Season with salt and pepper if necessary, although it will almost certainly not be needed, since we are cooking with ham from the beginning and it will give that necessary salty point. But just in case you try, lest they go bland.
10. We remove the excess water from the scallops and coral with a piece of absorbent paper.

Baking and final presentation of Galician scallops

1. Next we add the scallops and we remove carefully, we wait a couple of minutes more with the fire extinguished until the scallops are well impregnated with the sofrito, they will finish making in the oven.
2. Finally we preheat the oven to 200º C.
3. We place in each shell the scallop (1, 2 or 3 depending on the size) with the sofrito.
4. We sprinkle the surface with a thin layer of breadcrumbs. The layer of grated breadcrumbs will keep all the juices and sea flavor of the scallops.
5. We introduce the scallops in the middle tray at 180º C for about 12-15 minutes. Heat up and down, no air.
6. Check from time to time how they are going, we don’t want them to burn us.
7. Finally gratin for about 2 minutes until it is like the golden tone of the presentation photo. Stay tuned in this final step and be careful not to burn yourself.
8. We serve immediately hot and fresh from the oven on a plate with the shell in the middle. We already have one of the most characteristic and famous recipes of Galician cuisine. Do not burn us and enjoy them.

Be sure to enjoy all the fish and seafood recipes that we have on the blog and in the special Christmas recipes .

Tips for some yummy scallops

• When we sprinkle the surface with a thin layer of quality breadcrumbs, you can even roast it with very chopped parsley, as you can see in the photos and in the video.
• You can use the typical clay containers for their presentation or their own shell.
• Scallops belong to the group of bivalves and have the ability to move in search of food through areas of clean sand, propelling themselves by closing their shells tightly.
• We can find them up to about 100 meters deep. Galician scallops are captured by the shellfishmen with great care. Making this mollusk one of the best seafood in the world.
• In the Galician estuaries we can also find other seafood of incomparable quality, clams, Norway lobsters, oysters, barnacles, mussels, razor clams, cockles, octopus … The Galician coast has the best sea product in the world and is that the Galician scallop has a flavor of sea ​​.