A few months back, I introduced you to a new (to me) culinary technique called beurre monté, translated as “mounted butter.” You literally “mount” the dish with butter, but not just any type of butter. Beurre monté is a finishing sauce that’s used to add a silky richness, a luxurious polish, and a touch of elegance to whatever you’re enhancing with it.
The basic beurre monté ratio is 3 parts liquid (generally water) to 8 parts butter. Since I’m usually just cooking for two, I halve the amounts. I also change the liquid from water to something with flavor. For a Christmas spin, I’m using pomegranate juice for my liquid to give the beurre monté both flavor and color. I’ll also be using the ruby red pomegranate arils as jewel-like accents on my scallops, along with two accoutrements – a lovely green parsley and pistachio pesto and a tart, bright red cranberry salsa. You’ll have plenty of the pesto and salsa left over, so I’ve got a great use for that too – as dips for my homemade seasoned and toasted tortilla triangles.
The scallops take only minutes to cook, so I’m starting on the dips and the seasoned tortilla chips first. That’ll give you something to munch on while you’re preparing the beurre monté and the scallops.
To roast pistachios, place on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake at 350° for about 10 minutes. Let cool.
Put pistachios, garlic, lemon juice and zest, and parsley into food processor and pulse several times. Slowly drizzle in olive oil with motor running until smooth and pourable. Season to taste with salt.
Using 3 large baking sheets, place a tablespoon each of oil and butter on each sheet. Place in a 300° oven to melt.
While the tortillas are in a stack, slice the round into eighths.
Take each tortilla wedge and dredge both sides through combined oil/butter mixture and lay on sheets.
Sprinkle a little of each seasoning over the tortilla wedges. Place in a 300° oven and bake about 15 minutes, or until nicely tanned, rotating trays halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool.
Dredge through melted butter and oil, then season.
Bake.
I also like to serve Parmesan Rounds with my scallops. They give a nice flavor and crunch to the meal.
Parmesan Rounds
Using a good quality Parmigiano Reggiano, grate the cheese onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet into small rounds using a mold or tin. Your rounds should be about ⅛ inch thick. Bake in a 400° oven about 7-8 minutes, rotating halfway, until golden. Let cool.
Next up is the beurre monté. Beurre monté is simply butter mixed into water (or other liquid), but the inner workings can be a bit complex. It’s a method of heating and melting butter in a liquid while still maintaining the emulsion. A bit of chemistry here: Butter is a solid emulsion of fat and water. When you melt butter, the emulsion breaks, meaning the fat and water separate and become thin and oily. Beurre monté is butter that is simultaneously melted and rebuilt into a new emulsion by constant whisking in the hot water. The whisking breaks the fat into droplets which get dispersed throughout the liquid, thickening the mixture, turning it rich and silky. Temperature is important. The liquid must be simmering, but not boiling, and the butter must be well-chilled. This way, the butter melts slowly so its fat droplets are incorporated into the liquid and the water doesn’t evaporate so much that you don’t have enough to keep the fat droplets separated. In the Christmas spirit, I’m using pomegranate juice for my liquid, giving it a nice reddish color, and I’m saving the gem-like arils for accent.
I’ll also be using the arils as a lovely and unique addition to my bonus recipe for Confetti Coleslaw. I’ll give you the basic starting point, but there’s no real recipe here, just add and mix till it all looks pretty.
Confetti Slaw
For the beurre monté:
The basic ratio for beurre monté is 3 parts water to 8 parts butter, but I’m cooking for only two, so I’m sort of halving it. And instead of water, I’m using pomegranate juice.
To prepare the pomegranate: Halve the pomegranate and take each half and spank it with a wooden spoon over a bowl like it’s been a naughty pomegranate. The arils and juice will come right out. Pick out any of the white cartilage that falls out and discard. Drain the juice to use for the beurre monté and save the seeds. I found that one pomegranate produces 2 tablespoons of juice, so for taste’s sake, I added in a tablespoon of lime juice.
Take the 3 tablespoons of juice, pour into a small pan, bring to a boil, turn back to a simmer, and gently simmer until you’ve reduced it to about 2 TB of liquid. To this, I’ll be incorporating about 6 TB butter.
Maintaining a very gentle simmer, add 1 piece of butter at a time and cook, whisking constantly, until butter melts, 20-30 seconds. Continue the process, 1 piece of butter at a time, whisking vigorously, until all butter is incorporated and sauce has the consistency of thin gravy. Take off heat and either use immediately or cover and keep warm. Beurre monté can be kept warm over the lowest possible setting for up to 4 hours, but if simmered too long, the emulsion will break. It cannot be cooled and reheated in emulsion form, but you can always just heat it back up and use it as a seasoned melted butter.
For the scallops:
To prepare the scallops, remove that tough little muscle on the side of each scallop and discard.
The muscle is easy to find.
Remove it.
Rinse the scallops and pat completely dry.
Lightly dust the scallops with cornstarch and freshly ground pepper.
Film a heavy bottomed skillet with oil and add a heaping tablespoon of butter. You want the temperature about 400°. Working in batches, place the scallops in, one at a time, being careful not to crowd the pan. Leave the scallops alone. Resist the temptation to skittle them around in the pan. Let cook on first side for 2 minutes, tong the scallops over, and cook for a minute on the other side. Remove from pan. Continue with next batch.
To serve:
Plate scallops along with Parmesan crisp, add a small spoonful of the pesto and salsa, drizzle with beurre monté, and sprinkle some pomegranate arils and toasted pistachios around for good measure.
Enjoy.
