Mrs J spent most her days this week looking out on this.

So there’s not much cooking going on. Mrs J likes scallops a lot though, and staying with nice people she had the opportunity to indulge in them. And the lime sauce just turned out to be absolutely perfect, so she feels she must share.

This is a great first course served in the shell. Mrs J figures the sauce would go well with other seafood too.

Basically you bring some nice fish stock to the boil and reduce it down by a bit more than half. Then add about double the amount of reduced stock in cream and a bit of maizena flour mixed with water to thicken (quite thick) when brought to the boil. Then add again same amount of sparkling wine. Champagne is called for, but anything nice and dry will do the trick. Press in lime juice and add the grated rind of lime as well. Let simmer for a couple of minutes and season to taste with sugar, salt and white pepper.

Use a grill pan to sear the scallops on both sides, then reduce the heat and dribble some lime juice over them and also add a bit of butter, salt and pepper. Let sit just another minute to make sure the scallops are cooked through without being overcooked. Serve immediately in cleaned shells with a liberal amount of sauce and perhaps a bit more lime rind or a bit of parsley or cilantro as decoration. Eat immediately.

Mrs J and company ate them all before she could even take a picture of them. That’s just how good it was.

Once again, honors go to Mrs J’s Belle Mère for coming up with this one. It’s a keeper!