Cooking - A Winter Delight

The daily markets of Gascony in winter offer a great variety of seafood and seasonal vegetables to bring a warm glow to your meals during these long, cold winter evenings. Shellfish is a particular favourite at this time of the year and there are many stalls groaning with oysters, mussels and crab.

Scallops have a particular association with this area because of the St. Jacques de Compostella walking routes. Two of the paths taken by pigrims run through the Department of the Gers.

Elizabeth David, in her 1960 cookbook "French Provincial Cooking" eloquently describes how to combine simple ingredients to produce gorgeous flavours. We've included this recipe to show how this lovely local produce can be put to great effect.

Recipe for Coquilles St. Jacques au vin Blanc (Scallops with White Wine)

"The mixture of bacon with fish in this dish sounds odd, but it is an old-fashioned and delicious one, although the amount must not be overdone.

For 4 large scallops, the other ingredients are 2oz of unsmoked bacon, a shallot or two, 1 oz butter, flour, a small glass of dry white wine and parsley.

Melt the butter in a frying-pan, add the finely chopped shallots and the bacon cut into tiny cubes. Cut the cleaned scallops into larger cubes, season with pepper but no salt and sprinkle them with flour. When the shallots have turned pale yellow and the bacon is beginning to sizzle, put the scallops in the pan and let them cook very gently for 5 to 7 minutes. Take them out of the pan and set aside in a serving dish.

Pour the white wine into the pan and let it bubble fiercely, stirring so that it amalgamates with the juices and all the tiny bits left in the pan. When it has thickened to a syrupy consistency, add a very little finely chopped parsley and pour the sauce over the scallops."

Serve with, perhaps some mushrooms and rice or fresh, crusty bread.

Enjoy !