Seafood brings clarity to festive cooking. It is lighter, more precise, and when handled with care, deeply indulgent.
Scallop tartare served in shells, paired with foie gras and mandarin butter, speaks the language of contemporary gastronomy: contrast, balance and texture. Warm citrus butter meets cool scallop, green apple cuts the richness, and presentation becomes part of the experience.
Lobster tails, brushed with citrus-honey butter and finished under the grill, need little adornment. Their luxury lies in technique, timing, temperature, and confidence. The lemon hollandaise, prepared at the last moment, is optional, but it reinforces an essential rule of elegant cooking: freshness cannot be faked.
These dishes celebrate the sea. They are designed to be shared, admired and enjoyed with someone special.
Scallop Tartare with Foie Gras, Mandarin Butter and Green Apple
Ingredients for 2 people
- 10 to 12 scallops plus 6 empty sea shells
- 20 g cooked foie gras
- 1 green apple
- 1 mandarin
- 1 lemon
- 80 g salted butter
- Fleur de sel and ground pepper
Method
Dice most of the scallops into small cubes and reserve one whole scallop and coral per shell. Cut the foie gras into small cubes. Finely grate the mandarin zest and mix with half the juice and the butter.
Warm the mandarin butter in a pan and gently sauté the whole scallops, corals and diced scallops for one minute on each side. Drain and set aside the whole pieces.
Dice half the apple and cut the rest into fine matchsticks. Mix the diced scallops with foie gras and apple, and season lightly.
Serve 3 shells per person. In each shell, place one whole scallop, tartare, and top with the green apple matchsticks and a coral (because it’s ah-so-pretty!). Finish with grated lemon zest.
Lobster Tails with Citrus Butter and Chives
The lobster can be served simply with butter or with lemon hollandaise sauce. If using whole lobsters, the heads can be used for the sauce, like a bisque, but when I cooked this dish, I had only tails, so I skipped that part.
Ingredients
- Lobster tails
- 50 g semi-salted butter
- Zest of half an orange
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp grapefruit zest
- 1 tbsp acacia honey
- Finely chopped chives
Method
Mix butter with honey and citrus zest and chill. Thaw lobster tails overnight. Boil in salted water for 5 minutes, drain and remove the underside shell. If they are fresh, wash them and cook them directly. Place in a baking dish, spoon over citrus butter and grill for 5 to 6 minutes until just cooked.
For the lemon hollandaise, if desired:
In a saucepan over a water bath on very low heat (your hand should be able to tolerate the heat from the bottom), mix 2 egg yolks with 2 tbsp cold water, stirring constantly until creamy. Gradually add small pieces of the citrus butter, about 150 g for two lobster tails.
Finish with chives and serve with extra butter or your freshly made lemon hollandaise.
Bon appétit! and enjoy the festive table with your loved ones!
