jerusalem artichoke risotto with panfried scallops and squid

Here’s the “recipie” for what I made for lunch today for my family and a friend and her 2 kids….a little risotto (always popular with the kids) finished off with a purée of jersualem artichoke (that’s been in the fridge for a few days !!), accompanied by fresh scallops on a bed of leek braised in wine and a few slices of sautéed squid. The dish was “dressed up” with a couple of cubes of a smoked herring jelly, a clementine powder and a bit of balsamic reduction.

I must confess – though it’s pretty obvious from the mixture of things in the plate – that this dish is the result of using up things that have been in the fridge / cupboard for a wee while (except for the scallops and squid, which I bought yesterday……it’s really the good time to be buying these 2 products)…..but none the less, the overall result was very good….particularly the smoked herring jelly with the clementine powder.

So, time for the photos…..with a little explanation of each one when necessary

Smoked Herring Jelly with Clementine Powder

These 2 ideas come direct from the “Chateaubriand” kitchen where I spent 5 fantastic days last week. They make a jelly with another bouillon but keep the smoked herring clear stock for a delicious soup….I took the 2 ideas and put them together.

….as for the clementine powder, the technique is pretty simple – though a bit time consuming ! You peel the clementine and then cut out the white interior of the rind leaving just the zest. You could just scrape the clementines with a zester, but the skin (being much more fragile than that of orange or lemon) tends to split and break…..and anyway, you don’t get a great deal of zest (at least for making a powder) with a zester. Once the zest gathered, all needs to be placed in an oven at 80-100°C to dry slowly (takes between 1hr and 1h30)….until the pieces break like crisps. The resultat “crisps” are then pulverised in a mixer. The result is a fantastically pungeant, though rather bitter / sweet, powder….to be used carefully.