My first dish is Pan-Seared Scallops with Lentils and Pancetta, Braised Swiss Chard, Apple Cider Reduction and Goat Cheese Crème Fraiche. I’ve included two different versions for plating the dish. The first photo is a somewhat more refined presentation and the second photo has a more simple presentation.

This is really a wonderful dish that is great for the fall/winter season and is very versatile. Instead of using scallops you could easily substitute any firm mild flavored white fish such as halibut, or mahi-mahi. You could even use this set and pair it with a brined center cut pork chop with caramelized apples in a port reduction sauce, instead of the apple cider reduction, but both work well.

The flavors of this dish are very balanced and work very well together. You get the saltiness from the pancetta, balanced against the earthiness of the lentils and sweetness of the scallops. The tangy flavor from the goat cheese plays well against the sweetness of the apple cider reduction. And then you get great texture and slight bitterness from the braised Swiss chard—not to mention great color! 

At the restaurant, I hardly ever measure ingredients or follow a recipe (unless of course I’m making dessert) so I am not going to provide any exact quantities of ingredients below, but instead give you an idea of the techniques used and how dish is composed and plated.

Depending on how many people you plan on serving, plan on 3 large sea scallops per person, or a 5 to 5.5oz portion of fish (or an 8–10oz portion of pork). In a sauté pan, render the finely diced pancetta until crispy (if you don’t like to use pork products you can eliminate this from the dish) add finely diced mirepoix and sauté until soft. Then add your lentils and the appropriate amount of water. I also like to add a few aromatics such as a few sprigs of thyme, parsley and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, stir, cover and cook until lentils are almost soft, approximately 20 minutes or so. The lentils will continue cooking when you remove them from the heat so let them stand for about 5 minutes and then drain off any excess water. Keep warm and set aside.

Next start your apple cider reduction. I like to use a combination of sparkling apple cider and unfiltered apple cider that has some texture. If you don’t have unfiltered apple cider you can always chop up a few apples and add them to the sparkling apple cider and strain before finishing the sauce. Add a 1/2 cinnamon stick and one star anise. Bring to a boil, and turn down to a simmer and reduce until the sauce lightly coats the back of a spoon. If the sauce is too sweet, you can always balance it out by adding a squeeze of lemon juice. Set the sauce aside and whisk in a small amount of butter to finish.

For the goat cheese crème fraiche all you need to do is add your crème fraiche and crumbled goat cheese to a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth. Taste to determine if it is the right consistency, if not you can add a very small amount of cream, lemon juice, salt and white pepper. Place sauce into a small pan, place on low heat and hold until plating.

Swiss chard is really a great leafy green. It has good texture for braising and holds up well when plated (unless of course you cook/boil it to death and then it will lose it’s color and will turn to an unappealing army green). During the recent e.coli outbreak in September I used a lot different greens as a substitute for spinach and all of them worked great depending on the dish. So if you are not a big fan of Swiss chard, you could use spinach, collard greens, beet greens, pea sprouts, or micro greens, etc., etc… Remove the stem/vein that runs the length of the chard, chop into large bite-size pieces, wash well and spin in a salad spinner. Heat a sauté pan to medium-high heat, add your oil, bring the oil up to temp, drop in your chard, add a small amount of white wine, salt and white pepper, and a small amount of butter. Toss a few times, and cook for about two minutes and then turn off the heat. The heat from the pan will continue to cook the chard and reduce any liquid, while preserving the bright green color.

Now that your mise en place is set to go, you can fire up the sauté pan and start sautéing your scallops. Scallops cook in a very short amount of time and so all of your other ingredients must be hot/warm and ready to plate before starting the scallops. (Including your plates so make sure that you turn the oven on to 225 degrees to warm your plates in advance.) Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel, salt and pepper on one side and then slowly add to the hot oil in the sauté pan. Cook for about 1.5 to 2 minutes on the presentation side, (should have nice caramelization) and turn and then sauté for another minute or so. Remove from the heat and start plating. Enjoy!!!