Chef Neal Langermann’s Seared Scallops with Sweet Potato Hash and Apple Cider Butter Sauce

Chef Neal Langermann of Blackwall Barn & Lodge (Provided photo)

Chef Langermann supervises Blackwall Barn & Lodge’s restaurant, catering and special events services. The restaurant showcases a farm-fresh, family-style (not plated) menu. 

Previously, he owned Langermann’s Restaurant in Canton, and served as corporate chef for Capital Restaurant Concepts, which included Georgia Brown’s in D.C., Old Glory Bar-B-Que, Paolo’s Ristorante and the on-site restaurant for Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

Langermann began his culinary career when acclaimed Master Chef Paul O. Grutter invited him to participate in a three-year, European-style chef apprenticeship. 

He was a member of the opening culinary team at Red Sage, which was named Food & Wine’s “Best New Restaurant,” a three-time presenter at the James Beard Foundation and was named “Chef of the Year” by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Langermann’s fans can still enjoy his signature dish — shrimp and grits — at Blackwall Barn & Lodge. 

Blackwall Barn & Lodge
29 Gambrills Road, Gambrills, Md.
barnandlodge.com

Seared Scallops with Sweet Potato Hash and Apple Cider Butter

Seared Scallops with Sweet Potato Hash and Apple Cider Butter Sauce

Course Side
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for scallops

  • 1 ounce olive oil blend
  • 1 ounce unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoons salt and pepper mix
  • 40 sea scallops dry packed (5 per person)
  • 8 ounces sweet potato hash
  • 24 spears asparagus 3 per person
  • 3 ounces apple cider butter sauce

Ingredients for the apple cider butter sauce

  • 1 quart apple cider fresh
  • 2 ounces heavy cream
  • 1 pound unsalted butter softened

Ingredients for the sweet potato hash

  • 8 Granny Smith apples
  • 2 ounces unsalted butter softened
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes
  • 4 ounces olive oil blend
  • 1 tablespoon salt and pepper 50/50 mix
  • 2 tablespoon fresh thyme chopped
  • 1 pound cremini mushrooms chopped into dime size pieces
  • 1 pound portobello mushrooms chopped into dime size pieces

Instructions
 

Instructions for scallops

  • Heat 1 ounce of olive oil in a sauté pan. Add the scallops and sear them until they are golden brown on both sides and just cooked through.
  • In another sauté pan, heat 8 ounces of sweet potato hash with 1ounce of butter, salt and pepper.
  • Cook the asparagus spears in salted boiling water for 30 seconds.
  • On an entree plate, place the hot sweet potato hash in a mound in the center of the plate. Top the hash with asparagus in a criss-cross fashion.
  • Ladle 3 ounces of apple cider butter sauce around the hash being careful to stay on the inside rim of the plate. Place the cooked scallops around the plate evenly in a star design.
  • Garnish the scallops with fresh thyme.

Instructions for apple cider butter sauce

  • In a saucepot reduce the apple cider over medium heat until there is just 1 cup remaining.
  • Add cream and bring the cider to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer.
  • When bubbles in the mixture are of uniform size, add the chopped butter while whisking.
  • When the butter is fully incorporated, remove the sauce from the heat and place it in a double boiler near the hot stove.
  • This recipe yields approximately 26 ounces of sauce.

Instructions for sweet potato hash

  • Using a peeler, remove the skin from the apples.
  • With a chef knife, slice the bottom of the apple off in a ¼ inch slice to prevent the apple from rolling.
  • Remove the core of the apples by cutting on each side from the top to the bottom. This will give you a square core that can be discarded.
  • Each apple will yield four sides that can now be diced into ½ inch pieces.
  • In a sauce pan, heat 2 ounces of soft, unsalted butter. Add the apples. Allow them to cook over low heat until the apples are soft.
  • Remove the apples from the heat and spread them out on a sheet tray to cool.
  • Dice the sweet potatoes, making them the same size as the apples.
  • Toss the sweet potatoes with 2 ounces of the olive oil blend. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and pepper mix and 2 tablespoons of chopped, fresh thyme.
  • Place the diced sweet potatoes on the sheet tray and bake them at 350 degrees until they are soft.
  • Cut the mushrooms into dime size pieces and toss them with 2 ounces of the olive oil blend. Roast them in a 350 degree oven for 18 minutes.
  • In a large bowl combine the apples, wild mushrooms and sweet potatoes.
  • This recipe yields approximately 4 quarts of sweet potato hash.
You May Also Like
Remembering Kathy Goldman, NYC’s ‘Most Important Food Activist’
Kathy Goldman

Kathy Goldman, who passed away recently at the age of 92, spent decades fighting hunger in New York.

The Food Enthusiast with Guest Marshall Weston
The Food Enthusiast with Guest Marshall Weston

Dara Bunjon talks with Marshall Weston, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Maryland.

Hiring People With Disabilities is a Win-Win for Everyone
woman at desk

People with disabilities bring the same assets and qualities to a job as any other perspective employee, writes Stanley Stith of Jewish Community Services.

Baltimore Casts Its Lots to Celebrate the Festival of Purim
Purim

The holiday's offerings around town this year feature an embarrassment of riches. Get your groggers ready, folks!