Since we're on the topic of seafood (coming off a Chickie's post), I recently made scallops. It took me a while to work up the courage to try to make them because I was afraid that they would be overdone or underdone or that I wouldn't be able to get them to sear nicely. All that worry was for nothing. I made up the recipe for the garnishes, but these scallops would have been just as good by themselves.
Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and smush a couple of cloves of garlic and throw them in. Keep the pan on medium low for 10 minutes or so - you want the garlic to flavor the oil a bit. Remove the garlic and turn up the heat to medium high. Throw in a bag of prewashed baby spinach and stir.
After three minutes or less, the spinach is cooked down and ready. Set aside.
Pat scallops with paper towel to dry. Using dry scallops is the key to making seared scallops. Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper.
Heat 2 more tablespoons of olive oil in pan and add a pat of butter. Turn to medium high. When butter sizzles but has not started to burn, add scallops. Cook for a few minutes until you can detect nice browning and flip.
Cook on other side for 3-5 more minutes. They cook quickly so you have to be sure to take them off the heat just as they become opaque; you do not want to overcook them.
This is the color you are striving for!
Place on platter and garnish as desired. I topped them with the spinach, bacon bits and leftover corn that I roasted in the oven. The flavors went together beautifully. The hardest thing about making these scallops was finding nice ones at the market, but having just discovered a Whole Foods nearby (how did I miss that!?), I don't think that finding fresh seafood will be a problem again. They were incredible and disappeared like magic. I encourage you to try cooking something new- something you have been putting off for one reason or another- it will pay off in melt-in-your mouth goodness...and the eggs.
8 comments:
The dish looks beautiful and tasty. Try a Chinese Five Spice powder - just sprinkle on each side of the scallops and sear. I use it on salmon quite a bit.
These look great. Where did you get the scallops?
(:
Thanks Suzanne! Your comment made me remember to edit my post. I forgot the part about the salt and pepper! I will have to try five spice powder!
Whole Foods- (how did you miss that?) ha ha. I missed it too (the Whole Foods)
They look so yummy. I put lime juice and butter-sprinkle bread crumbs lightly-and broil.
(:
mmm- that sounds good too Ma. I will try these - I have been afraid in the past too but this looks so easy.
I stopped at the Whole Foods in Ann Arbor on the way to visit a friend in the hospital there. The parking lot was crazy, even though it was the middle of the day on a weekday. The store was AMAZING. There are two close to me that I frequent, but they pale in comparison.
How long until scallops go bad? Because now these are very OLD -
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