Recipe: Easy Sauteed Scallops

About a year ago, a doctor recommended that I eat a lot more fish.  This was fine by me, as I love fish, but there was a small problem.  Going to the grocery store sends me into a near-homocidal rage, and there was absolutely no way on Earth that I was going to put myself through that misery every day, espeically when I was working outside the home and already making myself miserable before I even got there.  Fortunately, I found that there are some very good-quality flash-frozen varieties of fish out there.  I stocked up on some good frozen fish for weeknights.  I found some of these stockpiles recently and decided to make use of them, making room in my freezer for things like stock and homemade ice cream.  This is what I came up with. 

 

Scallops are a fun fish.  They have a wonderful flavor of their own, even frozen, and they match marvelously with a wide variety of flavors.  You do have to be careful not to overcook them, or else they'll take on the approximate texture of a hockey puck, but as long as you keep an eye on them they should be just fine.  They do best with simple preparations.  Here I've just cooked them in a bit of butter and lemon juice, with the olive oil added to increase the smoke point.  It was very easy, and worked very well as a weeknight meal in front of the baseball game.  For the lemon juice, I used the reserved lemon juice from the lemons I used to present the lemon ice cream in Friday's post. 

 

Easy Sauteed Scallops (Serves 3, approx. $6.26/serving)

1 lb frozen scallops, thawed

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

Juice of 2 lemons

Equipment:

• Saute pan

1. Melt the butter in the saute pan with the olive oil.
2. Add the scallops in a single layer.  Cook 2 - 3 minutes or less.
3. Flip the scallops and cook another 1 minute.
4. Add the lemon juice and cook another 1 minute.
5. Serve. 

Technorati Tags: Seafood,scallops,saute,easy recipes

Comments

[kellypea]

We love scallops, but when we have them, my husband is the cook for some reason. We found a great series of recipes in Fine Cooking a few years ago that we hung on to and refer to when we want some and it works every time. Yep. We've had our share of hockey pucks! They're great on the barbie, too. Good suggestion for this weekend!

[Fearless Kitchen]

Thanks! I'll bet that Fine Cooking had a lot of great ideas. It's great that your husband cooks, too. It's nice to live in an era when men actually cook too - my grandmother was horrified when I told her I "allowed" mine in the kitchen!