Conchas a la parmesana, a seafood recipe with Peruvian origins

Total: 20 min Diners: 4

My grandmother loved scallops au gratin. Maybe it’s not the most purist thing in the world and all those product lovers will look down on us, but this type of recipe is highly succulent. It also happens to grilled scallops with turnip and lime cream, Galician scallops or mussels with scallop sauce and ham; which are not purist recipes, but are tremendously delicious.

This time we go to Peru to recover a recipe that is very popular there but not so popular in Spain: conchitas a la parmesana. I found them in Distrito Ceviche, a Madrid restaurant located on Princesa street.

They prepare them with a Parmesan cream that is grilled in the oven and is delicious with Pacific scallops -which are a different species to those we know as dry scallops- used for the recipe because it has the right flavor to accompany their meat and not mask it. Good things about the recipe? You could also leave them ready in advance so that you only have to gratinate them at the last moment, when it’s time to serve. I do recommend that if you do that, do not take the shell out of the fridge and put it in the oven because you run the risk of it getting cold inside. It is always better to temper, at room temperature, for 30 minutes.

You can do the same with scallops or mussels, but the sweetness of the Pacific scallop is perfect. I’m also imagining some prawns with this same recipe, I think they would look great.

If you have never tried them before, Parmesan shells will take you a bit to France and Italy. I’m actually surprised that it’s a popular Peruvian dish. It is tremendously curious. The most traditional way to prepare them is to put on top of the seafood a little lemon, black pepper, butter and grated Parmesan, but the way they do it in this restaurant I really like it because they make a cream that bathes the bivalves. A cream that would also be great to put over pasta or meat. The recipe is theirs, so today the credit is not mine.

How to make Parmesan shells

Ingredients

For the cream cheese

. Butter, 100 g Chopped garlic, 20 g Mild olive oil, 35 g Salt, 3 g Ground black pepper, 1 g Rum, 70 ml Cream, 200 g Parmesan, 70 g Pacific scallops, 8 pcs Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), 8 tsp Olive oil, a few drops Grated Parmesan cheese, 4 tsp Lime zest, c/s

Step 1

Saute the garlic with the oil and butter over low heat. When it starts to brown, add a little salt and black pepper. When we see that the garlic takes a golden tone we will have to add the rum and at that moment we have to increase the fire so that the alcohol evaporates. Turn off the heat.

Add then the cream and also the grated cheese, mixing everything well. After that, mash everything very well until smooth. When it cools it will condense, becoming hard, perfect for handling and placing on top of the shells.

Step 2

Place a few drops of olive oil on the meat of the shells – in this case Pacific scallops – and place in the oven, with the grill on, for 30 seconds.

Step 3

Place the seafood meat back on the shells, cover with a spoonful of cream cheese, add some panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) on top and also some more grated Parmesan.

Step 4

Gratinate the Parmesan shells until the breadcrumbs start to color, lightly browning. This can be done by putting them back in the oven, or more quickly using a kitchen blowtorch if you have one.

Step 5

Finish with a little lime zest on top. If desired, you can add a little more lime juice before consuming.