Wine of the week | Retailer of the month | Tasting with Oz Galician scallops The real taste of Spain page 24 2006 Albariño, Rías Baíxas, Val do Sosego (Bodegas As Laxas), Galicia, Spain, 12.5% ABV Oddbins, £8.49 White from Spain’s cool, wet north-west, where the Atlantic storms dump more rain than in Manchester. Thankfully it’s also hotter than Manchester, so grapes can ripen, up to a point. But they never lose the sense of cool and moisture. This wine is soft, even slightly chubby, but that only serves as a vehicle for the cool fruit of pears and white peach and the pithy bitterness of grapefruit zest. And all the time you sense the grass glistening with dew, the cliff rocks washed with rain. Oddbins head office 31–33 Weir Road, London SW19 8UG (020) 8944 4400 fax (020) 8944 4411 mail order Oddbins Direct 0800 328 2323 fax 0800 328 3848; 173 shops nationwide website www.oddbins.com hours Ask local branch for details cards AmEx, Maestro, MasterCard, Visa discounts 6 for 5 on Champagne or sparkling wine; 10% off 6 bottles or 20% off 12 bottles of table wine, excluding fine wine; regular general promotions delivery (Stores) free locally for orders over £100 en primeur Bordeaux. • Calais store Cité Europe, 139 Rue de Douvres, 62901, Coquelles Cedex, France (0033) 3 21 82 07 32 fax (0033) 3 21 82 05 83 pre-order www.oddbins.com/storefinder/calais.asp New World meets the classic regions of Europe: extensive Aussie selection, well-chosen Chileans, Argentinians and South Africans sit alongside good stuff from all over France, Spain and Italy. Always a good choice of fizz vieras a la gallega galician scallops The scallop shell has great significance across northern Europe; it is the symbol of Galicia’s Santiago de Compostela, where the shrine of St James has drawn penitent pilgrims from the far reaches of Christendom for over a thousand years. Scallops are still a common treat in Santiago, simply baked in their shells with a little wine, parsley and garlic. I particularly like this version with a touch of salty jamón that serves to emphasize the natural sweetness of the scallop. serves 4 4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for oiling A small, hazelnut-sized knob of butter 1 onion, finely diced 4 garlic cloves, crushed 85 g/31⁄4 oz thick slice of jamón Serrano, diced 100 ml/31⁄2 fl oz dry white wine 2 tbsp breadcrumbs 1 large sprig of fresh parsley, chopped salt 8 large or 12 medium scallops, shucked and prepared (see right) Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and the butter in a pan, add the onion and fry until it is soft and translucent. Next add the garlic and the jamón, do not remove any fat, this will render and add to the flavour of the sauce. Once the garlic has begun to colour pour in the wine, increase the heat to high and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Meanwhile, oil 4 scallop shells, individual terracotta cazuelas, or gratin dishes with a little bit of olive oil and put into the oven to heat through. Next pour the remaining olive oil into a bowl, add the breadcrumbs, parsley and a pinch of salt and mix together. Place the scallops, with their orange roe, in the preheated dishes. Pour over the sauce, top with the breadcrumbs and bake in the oven for 5–10 minutes until the scallops are just opaque. Serve at once. Tip   If you are entertaining, you could prepare the sauce and breadcrumbs ahead of time and then throw everything together at the last moment. Buying scallops Ideally buy scallops in their shells because these will not have been ‘soaked’, a process using tripolyphosphate by which scallops are plumped with extra moisture. ‘Soaked’ scallops are often not as fresh as their ‘dry’ counterparts and tend to boil in their own juices rather than sear. Many frozen scallops have been ‘soaked’. Ask your fishmonger to remove the scallops from their shells. If you are buying ready-shucked scallops the white abductor muscle, the scallop meat, should have a creamy tinge rather than the white glow of a soap commercial, which belies the use of phosphates. Try to find the premium priced, hand-harvested diver scallops, they are less muddy and kinder to the sea bed than the dredged variety. Preparing scallops Remove the thick white membrane around the outside of the scallop meat as well as the small tough muscle opposite the coral. If the scallops are really large you may cut them in half horizontally when searing or frying. Be extremely careful not to overcook scallops as they will lose their melt in the mouth sweetness, becoming tough and rubbery. Taken from the new Oz Clarke 250 Best Wines Wine Buying Guide 2008 Printable Tasting Sheet View the Wine of the Week Archive Check for stockists around the world at www.wine-searcher.com Continued...

© 2007 Anova Books