Scallops with confit potatoes and a ginger and thyme velouté

Method

Make the potato confit

1. Melt the goose fat in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the herbs, garlic and potatoes, season, and bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15-18 minutes, until just tender. Cool, then lift the potatoes from the fat and peel with a small, sharp knife. Set aside. Angela’s tip: Buy ratte potatoes if you can find them. Cook the potatoes very slowly. You can re-use the fat – cool until solid, then chill.

Make the velouté

1. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a clean saucepan. Add the shallot and a little salt and cook quickly over a high heat for a few minutes to just soften. Add the bay leaf, ginger, garlic, wine and thyme, and reduce by two-thirds. Add the stock and reduce by half. Add the cream and reduce by half. Strain into a clean pan and keep hot over a very low heat. Angela’s tips: a velouté is a creamy light-coloured sauce, so don’t colour the shallot when frying. Reduce the wine well to remove the alcohol and concentrate the lovely grape flavour.

Sauté the mushrooms

1. Using a knife, scrape off the outer layer of each mushroom stalk. Put the butter in a small frying pan over a high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes. Take the pan off the heat and remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon.

Pan-fry the scallops

1. Cut each scallop in half through the middle, then sprinkle with the curry powder. Reheat the butter in the mushroom pan over a high heat.
2. Add the scallops – in batches – and cook for 30 seconds. Flip with a palette knife and cook for a further 30 seconds. Set aside on kitchen paper somewhere warm. Repeat with the remaining scallops. Whizz up the velouté using a stick blender, until slightly frothy. Cut the potatoes into medium-thick slices. Put 6 slices in a circle, spaced apart, on each deep serving plate. Rest 1 slice of scallop against each potato slice, then dot with mushrooms. Spoon over the velouté to serve. Angela’s tips: scallops must be cooked briefly. Lay them out in a circle in the pan, so you know which ones will be ready first.