Scallops are simply delicious even with just a little salt and olive oil to dress. They don’t take that long to cook and you can just pop them on your stove for a couple minutes on each side and call it a dinner. However, they are an intimidating dish to conquer, but once you make them the first time you will see how easy and quick they are.
I used some of the freshest scallops from Main Day Boat Scallops (www.mainedayboatscallops.com) where a majority of the US sea scallops are purchased from. Their main season is December through March and if you live in New York, be on the lookout for events from them where you can pre purchase and order and pick them up in the city #farmtotable at your finest.
With the scallops, we made a fantastic Seared Scallops with Caper-Raisin Sauce recipe taken from Chef Jean Georges that was printed in Food & Wine magazine’s April 2014 issue. A few tweaks from his original recipe were included but see below for the full recipe:
Seared Scallops with Caper-Raisin Sauce
Makes 4 Servings
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup capers, drained
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- butter to coat the pan
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 8 1 1/2 inch cauliflower florets, sliced lengthwise 1/4 inch thick
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley
- 12 large sea scallops
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions:
- In a small saucepan, combine the capers, raisins an 3/4 cup of water. Simmer over low heat until raisins are plump, about 10-15 minutes and do not boil. Transfer to a blender or nutribullet and puree. Add in 6 tablespoons of butter says JG but I prefer about half of this. Add vinegar to the caper-raisin sauce and season with salt and pepper.
In a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil. Add half of the cauliflower and cook over moderately high heat, turning, until crisp-tender, 5 minutes. Transfer to a rimmed plate. Then repeat with remaining cauliflower. Let the skillet cool for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook over moderate heat, scrapping up any browned bits for 2 minutes. Stir in the parsley and pour the pan sauce over the cauliflower. Keep warm.
In a nonstick skillet, add a little butter and oil. Season the scallops with salt and pepper and add half to the skillet. Cook over moderately high heat, without turning until the scallops are golden brown on the bottom for 3 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the scallops and rewarm the caper-raisin sauce.
Spoon the sauce onto 4 plates. Top with scallops, browned side up and arrange a cauliflower slice on top of each adding a little pan sauce over and garnish with nutmeg.
Scallops plus Cashew Tofu