Pot en Pot / Magdalen

Pot en Pot

Courtesy of La Butte Ronde, Ghislain Boudreau and Guy Martineau, proprietors

Pot-en-Pot is a traditional Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine dish typically made during lobster season. As with many traditional dishes each family has their own beloved version. Essentially a seafood pie, this pot-en-pot recipe comes from Guy’s grandmother which he generously shared with EAT readers and which I had the good fortune to enjoy at his lovely B&B.

Serves four.

INGREDIENTS

1½ cups potatoes cut into cubes

¾ cup celery, finely diced

½ red pepper, finely diced

½ green pepper, finely diced

¾ cup onion finely minced

2 green onions, finely minced

1 Tb. good quality honey

1½ cups liquid (1 cup milk & ½ cup fish stock or clam juice)

Beurre manié (equal parts butter & flour for thickening sauces) at room temperature. How To Make It: Click here

½ c heavy cream

1 lb. fresh sea scallops (sliced into halves)

1 lb. fresh lobster meat (preferably clam & tail meat)

½ cup dry white wine

Pinch of saffron, (to taste)

Salt & pepper to taste

Pate brisee (the French version of pie dough) For recipe click here

Milk and egg yolk wash for brushing the dough

SPECIAL UTENSIL

Casserole dish

METHOD

Mise en Place (Prep)

Chop the celery, red & green peppers, onions and green onions and set aside.

Boil the potatoes cubes until not quite done, cool and set aside

Prepare the scallops by removing the tough small muscle (reserve the muscles for making stock). Slice the scallops into halves. Remove the cooked lobster from the shells, cut into bite size pieces and set aside. (Make sure to add any juices that come out of the lobster.)

Make the beurre manié and set aside. Now, you are ready to begin assembling the pot

To Make the Sauce

Sauté the onions, celery and peppers in butter in a small pot over medium heat until the onions are translucent but not brown and the celery and peppers are soft.

In another pot measure the stock and milk and heat. Add a touch of honey. When the liquid is hot (but not boiling) whisk in bits of the beurre manié and cook until the sauce is thick (but not too thick as it will continue to thicken in the final cooking of the pot). Fold in the cooked vegetables.

In a small saucepan, heat the white wine and add the saffron to dissolve. Then, add the sliced scallops and cook until just barely done.

Put the finished sauce, the wine, saffron and scallop mixture, and the lobster in a large casserole dish and mix thoroughly. Taste for seasoning (salt & pepper) and adjust to your preference.

At this point you cool the pot mixture before rolling out the pastry and baking or you can place it in the fridge for finishing the next day.

Finishing the Pot-en-Pot

Roll out the pie dough into a large circle the shape of your casserole dish with enough room to overlap the casserole’s sides.

Place the rolled out dough over the casserole and trim off any excess dough. Tuck the edges of the dough down into the sides of the casserole dish. Cut steam vents in the centre of the dough. Brush the milk and egg wash over the entire surface of the dough.

Bake in a 325F degree oven for 1¼ – 1½ hours until thoroughly heated and the crust is a beautiful caramelized brown.

Let cool slightly before serving. Sprinkle a little fresh parsley over each serving. Drink a fine white Burgundy or chardonnay to match the richness of the shellfish and the sauce.

Photos

By Gary Hynes

From left to right top:

Guy Martineau dices red pepper

Slicing scallops in half

Prepping the lobster

Whisking the sauce

Filling the casserole dish

Rolling the dough onto the casserole

The pot-en-pot is ready for the oven

Far right from the top:

Guy takes the baked pot-en-pot out of the oven