First of all, to prepare the scallops au gratin, let’s do the breading, then take the breadcrumbs, remove the crust and cut it into small cubes. With the leftover crust you can make delicious croutons.
Then we transfer the crumb into the food processor. Season with salt and pepper, then add the aromatic herbs, parsley, basil and a sprig of thyme, previously chopped, and finally the lemon zest, previously grated.
We mix everything and we will obtain the breading for our scallops. Then move it to a bowl where we add the oil and brandy to taste, mix everything with your hands without crushing too much.
Place the scallops, previously rinsed well so as to remove the dirt on the shell, on a plate. Lay the breading on top and gratin them in a preheated oven at 190 ° C for about 15 minutes or until a crust has been created. Our scallops au gratin are now ready to be served.
Grated scallops can be kept hermetically sealed for up to 1 day in the refrigerator. We recommend freezing them.
If you want to get a more delicate, but at the same time decisive flavor, you will have to replace the lemon zest and aromatic herbs with delicious pistachios and cherry tomatoes.
How to clean the scallops:
You can buy scallops already cleaned and also already opened in half shells, but if you want, instead, buy them fresh and clean them with your hands you will have to equip yourself with a mollusk knife.
To open the scallops you will have to insert it delicately into the opening between the two valves and with a slight pressure you will open them. Before opening them, we recommend leaving them to soak in cold water
Then remove the opaque part that covers the coral, the orange part, the black part that you will find on the base of the shell and everything that surrounds the pulp, then rinse them very carefully under water.