SCALLOPS FOR THE PILGRIM SHELLS

Last week, to mark the festival of Santiago, I showed a heap of scallop shells, symbol of the pilgrims to the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, northwest Spain). Since medieval times, pilgrims collected the scallop shells to wear on their belts to show they had completed the arduous journey.

All those empty shells made me want to fill them up! I used to buy fresh scallops at my local Mediterranean fish market (and saved many of the shells). But, locally-fished scallops are a rarity nowadays. So I bought frozen scallops at a big supermarket.

Frozen scallops include the white muscle and red coral.

They came in 250-gram packets (about seven to a package), cleaned and including both the white muscle and the red coral. The label indicated the scallops were distributed by a Galician outfit—but their source was the Irish Sea in the northeast Atlantic.

Top scallops with a sofrito and crumbs and cook under the broiler until browned.

This is a typical Galician way with scallops, which are called conchas peregrinas or vieiras in Spanish (in French, they are coquilles St. Jacques, or St. James’s shells). Put two or three scallops in each shell. Top with a savory onion-bacon mixture and breadcrumbs, then gratin them under the broiler. (If you haven’t got scallop shells, place the scallops in small ramekins.)

Serve, accompanied by bread, as a starter. Serve scallops with a crisp white wine from Rias Baixas, Galicia, made with Albariño grapes.

Serve scallops with a crisp Albariño wine.

Scallops, Galician Style
Vieiras a la Gallega

Serves 6 as a first course.

1 pound frozen scallops, thawed
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove minced garlic
3 slices bacon, chopped (2 ounces)
¼ cup white wine
2 teaspoons pimentón (paprika)
Pinch of hot pimentón
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs

Pat the scallops dry. If they are very large, they can be sliced in half. Place them in a bowl with the lemon juice.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet and sauté the onion, garlic and bacon on a medium heat until onion is softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the wine and cook until partially reduced. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the two kinds of pimentón, parsley, salt and pepper.

Drizzle oil over crumbs before broiling.

Divide the scallops between 6 scallop shells or individual ramekins. Put a spoonful of the onion mixture on top of the scallops in each shell. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over the scallops.

Set the shells or ramekins on a broiler pan and place the pan under the broiler until scallops are bubbling and tops lightly browned, about 6 minutes.

MUSSEL--BOUND

I go into the village three mornings a week to work out at the local gym. I’m not becoming musclebound, by any stretch, just desperately trying to keep toned.

Afterwards, I head for a café in the plaza for a café con leche, strong espresso coffee with milk. The café is sort of like my living room—I sit by the window, read the local (Málaga) newspaper and keep an eye on comings and goings. Then I check the mail at the post office and stop at the market for fresh fruit and veg, meat, eggs, fish. 

The other day, a recipe in the newspaper for a mussel gratin with spinach caught my eye. I’ve got lots of spinach in the garden, so that became my dinner plan. No pumping iron to get this kind of mussel! I bought the mussels at the market and headed home. But, then it started pouring rain—and never let up all day. I couldn’t go pick the spinach without getting drenched, so I looked for another mussel recipe in one of my cookbooks, MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN (yes, that’s the title of the cookbook as well as the blog), and came up with a Galician mussel and potato stew.

Most mussels come from Galicia in northwest Spain, where they are “farmed” on flats anchored in the Atlantic surf.  They are plump and meaty, but do require considerable scraping and cleaning.

First, I steamed open the mussels and removed the shells. The potatoes cooked in a sofrito with white wine until tender, then the mussels were added at the finish. A pleasing rainy-day supper with, of course, a Galician white Albariño wine from the Rias Baixas district. (Albariño is the grape varietal; rias are estuaries on the Atlantic coast. The Albariño vineyards reach nearly to the shores of the estuaries.)

Next time, I think I’ll add chopped spinach to the potatoes as well. It won’t be traditional Galician style, but I think very good.

Galician Mussel and Potato Stew
Guiso de Mejillones a la Gallega

Pimentón is Spanish sweet paprika. In this case, it is not smoked paprika. If you like, add a pinch of red pepper flakes or cayenne as well. Salt may not be needed, as the mussel broth is fairly salty.


Serves 4.

4 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed
2 bay leaves 
1 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 ounces chorizo sausage, chopped (optional)
3 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup white wine
2 teaspoons pimentón (paprika)
pinch of thyme
freshly ground black pepper
salt, if necessary
chopped parsley

Put the mussels in a pot with the bay leaves and water. Cover and place on a high heat. Shake the pot several times, until the mussel shells have opened. Remove from heat. Drain them, saving the liquid. When mussels are cool enough to handle, remove mussels from shells and discard shells.

Heat the oil in a cazuela or skillet and sauté the onion, pepper, garlic and sausage, if using, until onion is softened. Add the potatoes, wine, pimentón, thyme and pepper.

Strain the mussel broth through a fine sieve and add 1 cup of it to the potatoes. Cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add the mussels and reheat.

Let rest 5 minutes. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.