Scallops à ma façon (Scallops - my way)

Serves: to serve 4

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Ready In: 30 mins

Ingredients

9 oz - rice

3 medium-sized - sweet bell peppers

1 medium-sized - onion

3 tablespoons - olive oil

3 tablespoons - thick double cream (heavy cream)

2 tablespoons - tomato purée (tomato paste)

4 tablespoons - brandy

  - salt and pepper

16 - 20 - scallops

Directions

  1. Remove the seeds from the peppers and slice them in narrow ribbons. Peel and thinly slice the onion. Sauté them all gently in olive oil in a large frying pan, stirring them from time to time until they become soft and translucent (about 10-15 minutes). Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and put aside. Leave the olive oil and any juices in the frying pan.
  2. Meantime, mix the cream and the tomato purée in a bowl with a spoon. Set aside.
  3. Starting approximately 20 minutes before the estimated time of serving the dish, cook the rice in 3 times its volume of salted boiling water. If your rice is already cooked, begin to cook the scallops just 5 minutes before you need to serve the dish.
  4. Using the same frying pan that you used for the pepper, fry the scallops over a medium-high heat for 1 minute on each side. Pour in the brandy, allow to warm for a few seconds, than ignite it (be careful) and flame the scallops until the flames die down. Remove the scallops with a slotted spoon and set aside with the peppers.
  5. Pour the mixture of tomato purée and cream in the pan and use it to deglaze the pan (using a flat wooden spatula to scrape together the cooking juices that remain on the bottom of the pan). The cream must NOT be allowed to boil. As soon as the cream is warm and totally liquid, put the scallops and the peppers back in the pan and stir for a few seconds to mix.
  6. Serve immediately with the rice and a dry white wine (like a Chablis or Sancerre).