Like most born and bred Nova Scotians, Judy Eberspaecher grew up on a regular diet of seafood.

But when her teaching career took her out of the Forties of Lunenburg County a few decades ago and away to Ontario, Eberspaecher’s love of seafood — especially scallops — went with her.

"I had a friend from Digby who would get these flash-frozen scallops and he would drive up here with about 100 pounds of them at a time," recalls Eberspaecher, who now lives in Oakville but maintains strong ties with her family back home in Nova Scotia.

She enjoyed sharing this little taste of home with her friends, who in turn shared with her their favourite recipes for preparing this delicacy from the sea.

"Over the years, I ended up collecting all of these little slips of paper with friends’ recipes for scallops," said Eberspaecher, who always dreamed of one day putting the recipes together in a cookbook.

Her new book, Totally Scallops, is the culmination of that dream, and then some, with 20 years’ worth of scallop recipes from her friends and family bound together with dozens of other scallop dishes from her travels around the world.

The beautifully photographed, full-colour book features down-home comfort food like hearty scallop chowder and scallop-filled crepes juxtaposed against exotic dishes such as a pomello and scallop salad from Tunisia, a Japanese-style spicy scallop sashimi and a gutsy tapas-style recipe from Spain that combines scallops with Serrano ham.

"There are some recipes from some pretty well-known chefs," Eberspaecher says. "They cooked for me in their kitchens. It was wonderful."

Eberspaecher is especially proud to feature dishes from Michael Blackie from the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Theo Randall of the InterContinental in London, and Claude Aucoin, formerly of the Digby Pines Resort and now a culinary arts instructor with Nova Scotia Community College.

"The thing I most love about scallops is you can be as creative as you want. Scallops are as versatile as chicken, they have a neutral flavour that goes with any number of things, and they’re healthy and they cook quickly."

Here are a few of Eberspaecher’s  favourite scallop recipes.

SCALLOPS SAUTEED WITH DULSE AND NORI

Chef Claude AuCoin, Digby Pines Resort

28 large fresh sea scallops

25 g (1 ounce) ground dulse flakes or toast regular dulse and crumble

3 nori sheets (sushi-type dried seaweed sheets)

2 ml (½ tsp) freshly ground white pepper

50 ml (¼ cup) olive oil

Bamboo skewers soaked overnight in water

In 350 F (180 C) oven, toast nori on sheet pan until dry and it turns slightly brown. Grind into small flakes and mix with dulse flakes. Skewer scallops, flat sides against each other, as tightly as possible, 8 to 10 scallops per skewer. Season lightly with fresh ground white pepper then roll in seaweed flakes. Sauté scallops on high in a preheated pan with 15 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil. Roll the skewers in the pan to ensure they are evenly cooked all around. It should take about 4 to 5 minutes and the scallops should be cooked only halfway. To serve, remove scallops from skewers. Serve either whole or cut in half.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

MARGARITA SCALLOPS

50 ml (¼ cup) tequila

250 ml (1 cup) freshly squeezed lime juice

125 ml (½ cup) freshly squeezed lemon juice

125 ml (½ cup) sugar

1 to 2 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and coarsely chopped

180 ml (¾ cup) green onion cut into ½ inch (1 cm) pieces

250 ml (1 cup) chopped cilantro leaves

5 ml (1 tsp) garlic

2 ml (½ tsp) salt

500 g (1 pound) large sea scallops

15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil

1 lime, quartered

15 ml (3 tsp) minced cilantro

Place all ingredients, except scallops and olive oil, in blender or food processor; puree. Taste mixture; add more jalapeno as desired. Transfer mixture to mixing bowl; set aside. Rinse scallops in cold water; pat dry. In non-stick sauté pan over high heat, heat olive oil just until smoking. Add scallops to sauté pan and sear well without stirring or tossing. Add citrus mixture to pan; bring to a boil. When liquid reaches a boil, turn scallops and cook for one minute more. Remove scallops, cover to keep warm; reduce sauce to half of its original volume over high heat. To serve, divide scallops among plates. Pour liquid from pan directly over plates. Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro.

Makes 4 servings.

PAN-SEARED SCALLOPS WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATO BASIL CREAM SAUCE

Chef Greg Hopkins, Croc’s 19th Street Bistro, Virginia Beach

10-20 fresh sea scallops

500 ml (2 cups) heavy cream

125 ml (½ cup) sun dried tomatoes

5 fresh basil leaves

Pinch kosher salt

2 pinches seasoning salt

125 ml (½ cup) parmesan cheese

1250 ml (5 cups) prepared pasta (we use linguini)

50 ml (¼ cup) toasted pine nuts

Toasted Pine Nuts: On medium high heat, melt 15 ml (2 tbsp) butter then add pine nuts. Keep nuts moving till golden brown.

Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Sauce: In medium sauce pan, start scalding cream; add sun-dried tomatoes and salts. Continue to scald and stir cream so it doesn’t boil over or burn. Add basil; continue reducing. When reduced by half, add parmesan. Toss pasta into sauce.

Pan Seared Sea Scallops: Coat scallops in seasoning salt and peanut oil. Turn sauté pan on high; heat up for 2-3 minutes. Cook scallops for 2-3 minutes each side for medium-rare. After scallops are done, arrange on pasta; add pine nuts.

Makes 2-4 servings.

Source: Totally Scallops by Judy Eberspaecher

SCALLOP BITS:

• Scallops are low in calories and cholesterol, and high in protein, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids. One hundred grams of scallops have about 88 calories and 33 milligrams of cholesterol.

• Fresh scallops are usually best, but you shouldn’t necessarily shy away from frozen, says cookbook writer Judy Eberspaecher. If you can’t get fresh scallops that you know have just come off the boat, get flash-frozen scallops. They will taste better than "fresh" scallops that have been sitting in the store for several days.

• Fresh scallops should be stored in the fridge and used within two days. Otherwise, wrap well in heavy plastic and freeze.

• Scallops range in colour from pale beige to creamy pink and should have a clean, fresh smell and a moist sheen. Stay away from pure white scallops, a sign that they have likely been sitting in water. Water leaches away nutrients and colour.

• Scallops are fished around the world. The largest scallop fishery in the North Atlantic is off Nova Scotia.

• There are 350 different species of scallops, but only a handful of different species, such as bay scallops (smallest) and sea scallops (largest), are harvested commercially.

• Some cultures eat the entire mollusc, but in North America, the portion of the scallop that we eat is the tender abductor muscle that this bivalve shellfish uses to open and close its shell.

Source: Judy Eberspaecher’s Totally Scallops

By: By NADINE FOWNES Comfort Food

The Halifax Chronicle Herald
Wed. June 9, 2010

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