
Although coquilles St-Jacques simply means "scallops" in French, in the idiom of American cooks, the term is synonymous with the old French dish of scallops poached in white wine, placed atop a purée of mushrooms in a scallop shell, covered with a sauce made of the scallop poaching liquid, and gratinéed under a broiler. This rich, classic recipe was a signature dish of most of the small French restaurants in New York when I came here in the late 1950s. While working at Le Pavillon back then, I must have made it thousands of times. These days, most chefs, myself included, have moved away somewhat from that dish, favoring lighter preparations. But I'll tell you one thing: last time I made coquilles St-Jacques, it was for students at Boston University. I prepared two dishes for them: scallops cooked in a modern way, served with a green herb salad, and also the classic, gratinéed version. Now, these were not chefs-in-training; they didn't know what they were supposed to like. And there wasn't one student who didn't choose the old way over the new. It just goes to show: Truly good food never really goes out of style. —Jacques Pepin, chef, cookbook author, and PBS-TV cooking series host
Ingredients
- 8 oz. button mushrooms, minced
- 6 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 3 small shallots, minced
- 2 tbsp. minced parsley
- 1 tbsp. minced tarragon, plus 6 whole leaves, to garnish
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3⁄4 cup dry vermouth
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 large sea scallops
- 2 tbsp. flour
- 1⁄2 cup heavy cream
- 2⁄3 cup grated Gruyère
- 1⁄2 tsp. fresh lemon juice