Seared
Scallops, Ninja Gourmet Style
This
is my latest favorite meal. Seared scallops.
They make me feel like a ninja gourmet because it is so
easy to make them look a lot fancier than they really
are. I don't really have time to cook these days, so when
I get to turn a quick dinner into something that looks
like this, it makes up for it.
I
wish I could say they were fresh from the ocean, but before
I got to them, these were nothing more than a bag of frozen
large scallops from Safeway. That's how easy it was. I
let them defrost, layered them in paper towels to absorb
the extra moisture and heated up some grape seed oil in
a pan. I read somewhere that this is a high smoke-point
oil, which makes it good for searing at a high temperature.
It is also a very light oil in terms of flavor, so good
for uses where olive oil might intrude into the delicate
inherent taste of the dish.
As
an aside, Canola oil falls into these categories as well,
but I'm suspicious of that particular oil (what's a Canola
anyway?) and recently opted for grape seed with great
satisfaction. Read here for more info on the origins of
Canola oil and here for why it's stigmatized (be sure
to read to the bottom where most of those accusations
are actually debunked too.) But let's get back to the
kitchen.
I
seasoned the scallops lightly with salt and pepper, tossed
some chopped garlic into the hot oil to infuse it with
the flavor, then laid the scallops seasoned-side down.
I salt and peppered the exposed tops as they cooked and
let them go for about 4-5 minutes, until I could see some
brown around the bottom edges. The garlic had started
to burn by this time, so as I flipped each scallop over
I pushed it to the center of the pan away from them. After
about 2 more minutes, I plated the scallops and dusted
them with a cilantro-lime-ginger gremolata, or more simply,
tiny chopped up pieces of cilantro, lime zest and ginger.
Viola!
Article
and Images courtesy of Noelani Price: http://www.winecountryeats.com/
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