INGREDIENTS

8 scallops
175g(6oz) smoked haddock
1 garlic clove, peeled & crushed
1tbsp olive oil
salt & freshly ground pepper

Sauce

2 shallots, peeled & chopped
85ml (3 fl oz) white wine
85ml (3 fl oz) champagne
1tbsp white wine vinegar
300ml (1/2 pt) fish stock
150ml (1/4 pt) double cream
175g (6oz) unsalted butter, diced
55g (2oz) smoked haddock, diced

METHOD

Clean the scallops, and remove the roe. Make sure there are no bones in the haddock. Cut both scallops and haddock into thin slices.
Have ready 4 metal cooking rings of about 5cm (2in) in diameter. Mix together the garlic and olive oil. Lay slices of haddock in the base of the cooking rings, season, add a little of the garlic oil, then top with slices of scallop. Repeat the layers, finishing with a layer of scallop. Fill all the cooking rings in this way.
To make the sauce, place the shallots in a pan, add the wine and champagne, and reduce by half. Add the vinegar and stock, and reduce the liquid by half again. Add the cream and reduce by one- third. Slowly beat in the butter cubes, and season to taste. Add the diced haddock, and leave to infuse.
Cut out 4 squares of greaseproof paper or foil, and sit each cooking ring on these in the top part of a steamer or in a colander on top of a saucepan with a little simmering water in the base. Place the lid on the steamer, and steam the scallop and haddock rings for about 6 minutes.
Dry the rings off, then unmould the towers into hot serving bowls. Pour the sauce over and serve immediately- nice with some new chived potatoes and topping of warm tomato concasse and shallots.

Brian’s words…

Like many chefs I have always been a fan of fresh scallops, they are succulent and sweet. When freshly bought, that’s in the shell, and cleaned they actually eat well raw.
Scallops have been a favourite of mine from the days that Richard Shepherd and I used to eat them, steamed in the shell with soy, ginger, garlic and spring onions at the Mayflower Chinese restaurant in Shaftsbury Avenue at 3 o’clock in the morning after a particularly busy service the night before. To me scallops give the feeling of secrecy being brought from the hidden depths of two shells and this is the best way to buy them- not soaked in water as they often are, but to sum it up, the marriage of scallops with their sweetness and the smokiness of the smoked haddock is pure heaven, which is why I love this dish so much.