♪
It is corn season here in California and juicy, sweet corn is available everywhere. In this article,
the corn coulis has the starring role, not the succulent, delicious scallops. This thick sauce deserves
all the attention!
A coulis, French for ‘strained liquid’, is a form of thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits. It can be sweet or savory, depending on what it is meant to accompany.
A vegetable based coulis is commonly used on meat, seafood, and vegetable dishes. It can also be used
as a base for soups or other sauces. Vegetable coulis are roasted, blackened, or simmered for savory flavor, but fruit coulis are generally used uncooked. The coulis base is puréed for creamy and smooth.
This corn coulis goes so well with any kind of meat and especially with seafood. If more cream is added for thinner consistency, it will go well with steamed vegetables for vegetarian dishes.
♪
Corn Coulis served with Scallops
Recipe by: Fae’s Twist & Tango (fae-magazine.com)
INGREDIENTS
For coulis
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 100 g/ 1 small onion, minced
• 260 g/ 1 cup fresh corn kernels (2 ears)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ ~ ½ cup heavy whipped cream (depending on preferred thickness)
• smidgen ground saffron
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/16 tsp ground black pepper
For scallops
• 12 ~ 20 pieces (600~1000 g/1.3~2.6 lbs) sea scallops, muscles removed, rinsed and patted dry
. . 3 scallops each as appetizer, 5 each as main dish
• salt and ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
For garnish
• 1 tomato, de-seeded and cut in mini cubes
• 4 basil tops + 8 leaves to chiffonade
• 4 lemon wedges (a must!)
DIRECTIONS
To make coulis
◊ In a non-stick skillet, add 2 Tbsp oil and cut onion. Sauté on medium-high heat until edges start turning brown. Scoop the caramelized onion out onto a plate. To the skillet, still with at least 1 Tbsp oil left, add corn kernels and minced garlic. Saute until corn starts browning. Add caramelized onion, cream, saffron, salt, pepper, and stirring, bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let cool down a little.
◊ Transfer the corn mixture to a blender. On high speed, blend until completely smooth (yields 1 cup). Empty the coulis/sauce into a heatproof bowl and cover to keep warm.
To prepare the scallops
Scallops should be heated through but still tender to the touch and slightly translucent in the center, and will continue to cook off the skillet/grill.
◊ To pan sear: Sprinkle salt & pepper on both sides of scallops. In a large, non-stick skillet, heat over medium-high heat 1 Tbsp olive oil with 1 tbsp butter until hot. Place half of the scallops in the pan and sear/cook, turning once, until golden brown, 1 ~ 1½ minutes per side, depending on size. Transfer scallops to a plate and cover to keep warm. Repeat process with remaining scallops.
~ or ~
◊ To grill: Sprinkle salt & pepper on both sides of scallops, and brush/coat them with oil. Heat a non-stick grill pan to medium-high. Brush/coat grill with oil. Grill half of the scallops until grill-marked and browned, about 1½ ~ 2 minutes on each side, depending on size. Transfer scallops to a plate and loosely cover to keep warm. Repeat process with remaining scallops.
◊ Spoon ¼ each of coulis into the center of 4 serving plates. Place 3 or 5 scallops on top. Garnish/sprinkle with tomato pieces, chiffonade basil leaves and put lemon wedge on the side.
◊ Squeeze lemon on the coulis to experience an exquisite taste!
~ Bon Appétit! ~
To avoid kernels scattering while cutting them off the ears, one easy way is to use a bundt-cake mold to secure the corn ear on the center hole and cut straight down.
♪
So, what’s cooking in your kitchen?
♪
Your scallops look perfectly cooked Fae and I love the addition of fresh coulis corn to accompany this dish!
Thank you for noticing. I made sure it will grill just the right amount. I grilled this time (for the grill marks), but I prefer pan seared with butter. 😀 )))
Butter of course! 😀
scallops and corn? Yes please! What a fab flavour combo.
Thank you! It is a great find and the sauce goes well with everything.
Sounds delicious! I’m always looking for alternative pairings for meat or fish, but never thought about doing a vegetable coulis. Nice work!!
Especially, now in season corn coulis is special. Impress someone with this decadent taste.
Gorgeous Fae. I don’t believe I’ve heard of coulis before either, but you’ve introduced us all to a whole new dish. Beautifully paired with the scallops, I can only imagine the two bursting in my mouth with an amazing flavor. I like your tip on the bundt pan too, very clever! Bravo!
This corn coulis is a must try. You’ll love it! I can’t take the credit for the tip on the bundt pan. I saw it on TV on two different programs and learned it. 😀 )))
I’ve never had corn coulis but it looks and sounds so good, and I do love corn! This sounds like a great recipe for me to try!
This is a very decadent sauce. Please do give it a go, Nancy!
A very attractively arranged dish! I love scallops, although I’ve never heard of coulis to try it – so this is definitely on my short list.
Definitely give this sauce a try, especially if you want to impress friends.
I love corn and I love scallops, what a great combination.
It works very well. When I was tasting the coulis, I was imagining all kinds of meats and vegetables corn coulis goes well with.
Oh my Fae! This looks divine and the presentation is a work of art!
Oh Cindy, my Friend! with you at my support, I am a very lucky person. <3
Very nice display. Makes me hungry!
Thank you, Dee Marie. Give this coulis a try. You’d really like it!
Fae, thank you so much for the recipe! I had this corn coulis with some grilled octopus and it was so delicious.
Thank you for mentioning that you had this corn coulis and enjoyed it! The photo doesn’t quite do the justice. 😉 It is amazing how simple ingredients put together make such a delicious flavor. Fresh sweet corn in season really does the wonder.
Great idea for everyday fine cooking! Like the plating too!
Thank you so much Chris. I knew you’d appreciate this corn coulis!
I have exactly two ears of fresh sweet corn in my kitchen and I would love to try this delicious coulis recipe. However I don’t have scallops. I wonder if i could use fish or chicken instead. Thank you for sharing Fae👍☺
Oh great, SKD! Please do make this sauce! This corn coulis goes so well with any kind of meat and especially with seafood. If more cream is added for thinner consistency, it will go so well with steamed vegetables for vegetarian dishes. Please let me know on the scale of 1 to 5 how you like the corn coulis. It is 5 for me! 😀 )))