Carrot and chervil soup, roasted scallops, Vin Santo, amaretti

By: Philippa Sibley
From: New Classics
Serves: 4
Photographer: Mark Roper

This is a souped-up (so to speak) version of ‘Sauce Jacqueline’. Traditionally made from carrots, sauternes and sometimes ginger, this sweet, delicate sauce usually accompanies fish and scallops. Conceptually similar, I’ve replaced the sauternes with Vin Santo (an Italian dessert wine) and the ginger element first made me consider gingernut biscuits for a crunch. Then it occurred to me; Italians dip amaretti biscuits in Vin Santo ...

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1	small all-purpose potato, preferably desiree, peeled and very thinly sliced
500ml	Chicken stock
or	water
500ml	thickened cream
1	leek, thinly sliced, white part only
1	small brown onion, thinly sliced
100g	butter
500g	carrots, peeled and grated
2 teaspoons	sugar
170ml	vin santo
1 bunch	chervil stalks, washed
	salt and white pepper
12	fresh scallops, no coral, dried on paper towel
12	amaretti biscuits, roughly broken
	chervil, thoroughly picked, for garnish

Method

Put the potato in a saucepan with the stock and cream and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Meanwhile, sweat the leek and onion in the butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, until soft but not coloured. Add the carrots and continue to sweat until most of the moisture has evaporated. This will take some time. Sprinkle on the sugar and 150 ml of the Vin Santo. and reduce until all the moisture has gone again. By this time the potato should be cooked in the stock and cream. Add this to the carrot mixture. Add the chervil stalks then remove the pan from the heat.
Put the soup in a blender and process very thoroughly in small batches then push through a fine sieve. Season with salt and white pepper and add the rest of the Vin Santo.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat until nearly smoking. Season the scallops with a sprinkle of salt. Sear them on their flattest side until nice and golden. Flip them onto paper towel.
To serve

Divide the soup into warm bowls. Place one whole scallop and two scallops torn in half per bowl. Sprinkle on some crushed amaretti biscuit and garnish with chervil sprigs. Serve immediately.