Best Crispy Scallops With Fresh Water Chestnuts Recipes

CHOWDER OF SCALLOPS, CELERIAC, AND POTATO WITH CARAMELIZED PEAR AND ROASTED, CRUSHED CHESTNUTS

Steps:

• In a large stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until softened, but not browned. Add the wine and continue cooking until volume is reduced by half. Add the celery root and potatoes. Cover with stock or water by 1-inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to a low simmer, and cook until potatoes are very tender. Using an immersion blender, puree the vegetables until very smooth. Add the cream and return to a simmer. Stir constantly; at this point the soup can burn easily. Season with salt, white pepper, and lemon juice, to taste.
• Meanwhile, place the diced potato and celery root in a separate large saucepan and cover with cold water. Season with salt and bring to a simmer. Cook until just tender and then strain and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add scallops and sear until golden brown on both sides. Remove scallops from skillet and set aside. Ladle some of the soup base into the skillet to deglaze, scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, and then scrape back into the large pot of soup. Add the scallops into the soup and keep warm over low heat.
• Meanwhile, in another large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add pears and chestnuts and saute until just beginning to brown. Season with nutmeg, to taste. Set aside.
• Divide the diced, cooked potato and celery root evenly among soup bowls. Ladle the soup into the bowls and sprinkle with pears, chestnuts, and cheese. Serve with crusty bread or toast.

CASHEW SHRIMP WITH WATER CHESTNUTS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, place 2 cups warm water and add 1 teaspoon salt; stir to dissolve. Place the shrimp in the salt water and swirl. Leave the shrimp in salt water for 5 minutes, then rinse with cold water, drain and pat dry with paper towels. Using a sharp knife, cut the shrimp into 3/4 inch diced pieces.
• Mix all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
• Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Place the celery and carrots in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove from heat and rinse with cold water until cooled. Set aside.
• Heat the oil to 325 degrees F.
• Fry cashews until light brown (watch carefully as they burn easily). Drain on paper towel.
• Add the diced shrimp to the oil and blanch for 5 seconds. Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon from oil and remove oil from the wok.
• Reheat wok until hot and add minced garlic and all the diced vegetables. Add the diced shrimp, sprinkle with the rice wine and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add the sauce mixture and stir until the sauce thickens, about 1 minute. Remove to platter and sprinkle cashews over top. Serve.

BACON-WRAPPED WATER CHESTNUTS

Steps:

• Combine the water chestnuts and soy sauce in a resealable plastic bag and let marinate at room temperature, tossing and massaging the bag occasionally, for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Wrap each water chestnut in a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Set a cooling rack into a rimmed baking sheet and arrange the bacon-wrapped water chestnuts on top. Bake until the bacon renders its fat and is crisp, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, stir together the ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and 1/3 cup water in a bowl to make a sauce.
• Remove the baking sheet from the oven and carefully lift the cooling rack off the baking sheet. Drain away any fat in the baking sheet and wipe dry with paper towels. Line the baking sheet with foil and lightly spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Carefully transfer the bacon-wrapped water chestnuts to the bowl with the sauce, swirling to fully coat, then spread out on the baking sheet.
• Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake, tossing every few minutes, until the sauce is reduced to a sticky glaze, about 15 minutes. Immediately transfer the bacon-wrapped water chestnuts to a warm serving platter. Sprinkle with pepper and serve while hot.

SCALLOPS WITH CEP COMPOTE & CHESTNUTS

Steps:

• Heat half the butter in a medium saucepan and sweat the onion and garlic for 5 mins. Meanwhile, remove the stalks of the ceps from the heads, cut them into chunks, cut the heads in half and set aside. Stir the chopped stalks in with the onions, raise the heat and fry for 2 mins until coloured. Pour in the wine and reduce by half. Add the chestnuts, 2 sprigs thyme and 400ml/14fl oz of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 mins.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Put in the cep heads, cut side down, around the outside, followed by the scallops in the centre. Fry over a high heat for 1 min each side until golden. Turn over and fry for 2 mins more. Sprinkle over the thyme leaves, season if you want and turn off the heat.
• Remove the thyme and stir in the second half of the butter. Spoon the compote into the four deep plates and top with the scallops and fried ceps.

SCALLOPS WITH BACON AND WATER CHESTNUTS

Steps:

• Wrap each piece of bacon around a scallop half and water chestnut half, and skewer them, allowing 4 bacon-wrapped portions per stick.
• Preheat the broiler. Broil the scallops for 3-4 minutes, turning over once.
• Meanwhile, make the saffron butter. In a small, heavy-based frying pan heat together the butter, lemon, vinegar, saffron and white wine. Mix in the anchovy essence and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Divide the salad leaves among 4 serving plates and top each plate with a freshly cooked skewer of scallops. Drizzle the saffron butter over the scallops, sprinkle with chives and serve at once.