Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Wild Sea Scallops!! Let them eat leftovers!

I went to the fish counter today at Staff of Life and everything looked so fresh and so good I wanted to take it all home and have a seafood party. The Tombo (Albacore) Tuna was bright pink and glistening, the sable fish filets (aka black cod or butter fish - very high in Omegas) looked perfect. This is what I originally came in for. Then I spotted the Rock Cod still on the bone, gutted and scaled. The skin a beautiful orange - I knew i wanted to pan fry it till the skin was nice and crispy. But then I noticed the huge Wild Day Boat Sea Scallops. Whoa, that was it, that's what we're having for dinner.

I also picked up a bunch of green onion and an eggplant to round out my menu. I am really lucky to have several farms on my road where I can pick up fresh vegetables daily. Yesterday (from Everett Family Farm) I picked up some zucchini, sweet red pepper and 2 kinds of tomato; purple cherokee and early girl. I also had some basil with roots sitting in a vase on my counter from the weekend.

This is what I planned:

Grilled, eggplant, zucchini and sweet red pepper with basil. A tomato salsa with green onions, sea salt and raw grated garlic. Steamed Rice. Seared Day Boat Sea Scallops finished with butter.


Slice veggies and season with sea salt and pepper. Coat generously with olive oil and sprinkle with julienne basil. You can grill these, fry in a pan or roast in the oven. I grilled them so I wouldn't have to dirty a pan. Roasting is a favorite way too. I like the way the roasting brings out the flavor of vegetables. Just place in an even layer on a sheet pan and roast in a 400 degree oven. Turning once. Total cooking time about 20 minutes.

For the salsa I chopped 2 tomatoes and 2 green onions. I used a microplane grater to grate a large garlic clove into the tomatoes and sprinkled with sea salt.

Now for the sweet succulent scallops. First be sure to check with your fish seller that your scallops are wild dayboat scallops. If the scallops came out of can, it means they were caught at sea, shucked and placed in a brine or saline solution to keep them fresh. You will not achieve the proper brownage or have the true sweetness of a fresh sea scallop. Dayboat scallops are caught by divers and delivered fresh in a sack.

To prepare the scallops remove the little flap of meat you may find on the side of each scallop and discard. Rinse the scallops lightly and pat dry with a towel. I stack mine between 2 paper towels. To cook, place a large skillet over very high heat. When hot add olive oil to just cover bottom of pan. Pan should be close to smoking. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Gently add each scallop and let brown. Don't move your pan around and don't move your scallops, just let them brown, about 2 minutes. When you have a nice brown crust gently turn over each scallop. If it is sticking slide a metal spatula under to loosen. Let 2nd side brown. After 2nd side is browned throw in a knob of butter (about 2 teaspoons) and swirl around pan. Remove pan from heat and serve.



I never made scallops for my children before. I usually give them salmon or some other white fish and they are happy. Crab and lobster thrills them. I was a little surprised when they wouldn't eat them. Livy told me tonight she is a vegetarian, Henry said he is a fastfoodatarian. We told Henry he would starve to death. Livy changed to a meatatarian after I heated up yesterday's leftover chicken.

That's ok, more for me and Ron. They were to die for.

1 comment:

Jill said...

Can you PLLLEEEZZZE DO a Seafood Party...I loved this menu! Love Jilly I will surely come if you would do so and invite me! XO