Classic Coquille St. Jacques

This dish is a simple, delicious, edible luxury. Size the recipe down and cook it for your sweetheart on Valentine's Day to prove that you realize how lucky you are. Extra bonus points for serving this with a full, buttery Chardonnay. Major bonus points if you follow it with the Chocolate Bread Pudding for dessert!

• 1 pound large sea scallops
• 1 cup dry vermouth
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1 tablespoon crushed fresh garlic
  
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  
• 1/3 cup Gruyere cheese
  
• 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt White pepper to taste
  
• 1 package Pepperidge Farm puff pastry squares

Marinate the scallops in 1/4 cup of the dry vermouth. Set scallops aside for 20 minutes until the puff pastry is done. Bake six to eight of the puff pastry squares, depending on the appetite of your sweetheart, and according to the package directions. (These should be the kind of pastry squares that puff into square silos that you can fill with the scallop mixture.) Set aside and keep warm.

Add the butter and oil together in a large skillet over medium-high temperature. Gently add the scallops, and leave them undisturbed until they loosen and become lightly browned on the underside. Turn the scallops and repeat. Imagine heating them through rather than cooking them. This will keep them from becoming rubbery. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.

Add garlic and cook for a few seconds. Burned garlic will ruin the dish. Pull the pan away from the stove and add the vermouth. Return the pan to the stove and let it flame! Let the flame burn until nearly extinguished. Add the cream and cook until the volume in pan is reduced by one half. Stir in the cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and add the scallops to warm for a few seconds.

Pour into the warm puff pastry shells and garnish with chopped scallions. Enjoy!

Serves 6-8

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