Recipes

/

Home & Leisure

Seared Sea Scallops

Zola Gorgon on

Seared Sea Scallops
Serves 4

There are a few secrets to perfectly seared sea scallops. I’ll show you the tricks the professional chefs have shared with me. This dish is simple but fancy.

2 Tbl of regular flour
1/2 tsp of grated sea salt
1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning (or any seasoning. You can do these with cumin for an Indian food feel. They can be done with cayenne for some zip. You can just do them plain or sprinkle on any favorite meat rub).
24 oz of sea scallops
Olive oil spray
Balsamic reduction (optional). If you don’t have balsamic reduction (pictured) you can also do something like a tomato sauce or even a salsa on the side. Specialty stores carry balsamic reduction.

First secret: Wash and rinse your scallops. Then lay them out on a cloth towel. Dab lightly at the top with paper towels and let them sit for about 15 minutes. Don’t leave them out too long or you risk food poisoning. I leave them out just the 15 minutes. The secret is you want to have dry scallops before you fry them. If you don’t they will be mushy. You also want them to come closer to room temp rather than refrigerator cold.

Preheat your pan on medium high. That’s secret #2. You want the pan HOT before you put in the scallops to get a good sear.

While the pan is heating, put the flour, salt and seasoning in a large baggie. Toss half of the scallops and take them out. Toss the other half. This is a very small portion of flour so the carbs won’t add up to much.

 

When the pan is HOT take it off the heat for a second and spray with olive oil. This is for safety. Then place back on the heat and add each scallop by hand. Secret number three is to make sure none of the scallops touch each other. If they do that will produce moisture too and they’ll be mushy. You want a nicely seared scallop.

I cook them three minutes and then turn over. That gives me a nice firmness to the outside and the inside stays moist. You can cook them longer or shorter as you choose but I like mine cooked all the way through but not to the rubbery point. Three minutes on the other side does the trick. Use the rule of thumb of seven minutes per inch of thickness for any fish and it will be done if the heat is high enough.

The last secret? Serve right away. If you don’t, they will get soft and they cool off quickly.

In the picture, you’ll notice I served them on butter lettuce leaves with the balsamic drizzle.

Cheers,
Zola


 

 

Comics

Flo & Friends John Cole Rugrats Mother Goose & Grimm Master Strokes: Golf Tips Pat Byrnes