Scallop & Squash Bisque

Motivation
This recipe if from the October 2010 (Issue 83) of Cuisine at Home magazine.  The recipe suggested searing the scallops first, then building the bisque in the same pot.  I guess that would mean leaving the seared scallops sitting around for an hour while your making the bisque.  Instead of doing that we sous vide the scallops ahead of time and seared them after the bisque was prepared.

Ingredients
(for scallops)
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1/2 tsp Nutmeg, ground
1/2 tsp Allspice, ground
12 Sea Scallops

(for bisque)
8 cups Butternut Squad, diced (about 2 large squash)
1 cup Onions, diced
1 tbsp Garlic, minced
2 tsp Sage, minced
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
2 bottles Clam Juice (8 oz each)
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 cup White Wine, dry
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
Olive Oil

Mise en Place
Sous vide scallops at 140 degrees for at least 30 minutes.  We did this a day a head of time, left the scallops in their vacuum bags and chilled them down in a ice water bath after cooking then refrigerated.

Peel, halve, and de-seed the butternut squash then dice.  Everything is going to be pureed in a blender so the squash needs to be diced into a pieces that are easy to blend.  Dice onion and garlic (I used a garlic press).  Mince sage.

Measure and mix together all the spices for the scallop dry rub.

Method
Pour a couple table spoons of olive oil into a small stock pot and set to medium heat.  Toss onions, garlic, sage, and red pepper flakes in the oil and sweat for about 5 minutes.  Add clam juice, chicken broth, and wine to the pot and bring pot to a simmer.  If you sous vide the scallops you should add any scallop broth reserved in the bags.  Simmer for about 20 minutes.  Puree soup in batches in a blender then return to pot and add cream to the soup.  (The magazine recommends adding warm cream to the soup to prevent curdling - I didn't bother though.)  Keep bisque warm while you sear the scallops.

Blot scallops dry then dip each side in the spice rub.  Add oil to a pan and set on medium-high heat.  Once oil is very hot sear scallops on each side.  Since the scallops had already been cooked via sous vide I just seared them for a minute on each side to get a nice crust on the spices.

Ladle bisque into a wide bowl then place scallops in the middle.  Ideally the scallops will not be covered by the bisque.  (The magazine recommends drizzling a little maple syrup over them, but I didn't this time).

Verdict
Very tasty bisque.  The scallops were perfectly cooked and the spice rub was surprisingly spicy.  Once you get the butternut squash diced this is a pretty quick and easy recipe.