Tanrogans and Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

4 large scallops
150ml milk
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 bouquet garni
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

For the Cheese Sauce:
30g butter
30g plain flour
150ml milk (reserved from above)
85g grated Cheddar cheese

To accompany:
250g potatoes, peeled, boiled until tender then mashed with 30g butter and 1 tbsp milk
fresh parsley, chopped, to garnish

Method:

Remove the tanrogans from their shells, trim then them place (along with any corals) in a pan with the milk, onion and bouquet garni. Season lightly, bring to a simmer and cook gently for 7-10 minutes (depending on the size of the scallops). Just make sure they are soft and tender.

In the meantime, wash and clean the upper (curved) scallop shells. When the scallops are cooked remove from the poaching liquid then strain the liquid into a bowl. Press down on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible then discard the solids.

Cut the scallop meats and coral into bite-sized peices and arrange these in the cleaned shells. In the meatime, begin preparing the mash.

For the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan then blend in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the flour is no longer raw. Gradually whisk in the reserved milk over low heat, ensuring there are no lumps. Bring the mixture just to a boil, reduce to a simmer then cook, stirring until the sauce starts to thicken. Reduce the heat further, season to taste with salt and black pepper then add the cheese, stirring until melted. Take off the heat.

When the mashed potatoes are ready, spoon into a piping bag then pipe thickly around the rims of the scallop shells. Spoon the cheese sauce into this.

Place under a hot grill and heat until the surface of the cheese sauce is golden brown.

Transfer to serving plates, garnish with chopped parsley and serve.