{Seared scallops in a rich white wine sauce with herbs, garlic, lemon, and tomato.}

“Who stole our camera and took those pictures?” At least that’s what I thought I heard Mr. Melonfish say as he passed by my desk.  Totally beside myself I checked to make sure I didn’t have bananas in my listeners — nope, no bananas.  What do you mean who?  Who do you THINK!  My mind swirled, are my pictures usually crap? What is he saying?  I briefly went hypersensitive insane on him and demanded answers.  He said he meant it as a compliment.  With compliments like that who needs insults!

Maybe this is payback for putting the bacon in the freezer and thus dashing his dreams of an egg sandwich this morning.  Or possibly he’s still holding a grudge from the times I put knives blade end up into the dishwasher forcing him to stab himself.  You would think he’d learn by now.

From whatever displaced place this latent aggression lies and these so called compliments originate, I for one beg his pardon! Since the camera was a gift from Chris in the first place, I really should shut up about it already but it’s much more my style to harp and then silently pout.  On a deeper more esoteric level — I need to make sure gifts of this ilk keep coming my way, so this is officially the end of it.  Snort.

On to the controversial epicenter of this post, Coquilles Saint-Jacques.  The literal translation is ‘the scallops who stopped time’, which as absurd as it sounds, they do.  It’s like in one of those kung-fu movies where time stands still as the fighter moves in slow motion.  Only this scene is in my kitchen and the ninja is calmly eating a scallop instead of flying through the air.  Both equally zen activities in my opinion.

This recipe is all about the sauce for me.  It’s at the same time, rich yet light with a buttery citrus flavor.  I love it and it’s well worth the effort it takes to prepare all the ingredients.  This is not a meal I will soon forget and can’t wait to make it again.

The best way to make this dish is to have all your ingredients ready to go so you can concentrate on the cooking (from Big Small Plates by Cindy Pawlcyn):

1 1/2 lb sea scallops
3 tb butter
2 ts olive oil
1 tb garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and sliced into thin-ish wedges (medium sized –> Score each tomato on the bottom with a delicate X and then plunge into boiling water for 1 minute. Remove, let cool, then easily peel off skin, core, scoop out seeds, and slice.
1/2 c white wine
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
juice of one lemon (on the smallish side)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 basil leaves, chopped, plus some small leaves for garnish
1/8 c loosely packed and chopped Italian parsley, leaves only
1 c croutons –> Slice a baguette into small pieces, melt some butter and olive oil in a non-stick pan over high heat, add bread, salt, and pepper. Toast and stir until golden and crispy.

For the sauce, saute the garlic until it is fragrant in 2 tb of the butter and one ts olive oil over medium heat.  Add tomatoes and cook until the juices are released and then cooked out.  Season with salt and pepper, add wine, lemon zest, lemon juice,  and cook until the sauce has thickened.

Rinse and pat dry the scallops, season with a little salt and pepper.  Heat a non-stick pan over high heat, add the remaining 1 tb  butter and 1 ts olive oil and sear scallops for about 2 minutes on each side.  Try to just flip them once.

Remove scallops to a plate whole you finish the sauce. Add in the chopped basil and parsley and any juices that have accumulated on the plate where the scallops are resting and cook for another minute.  Serve by spooning sauce onto the plate (If you have scallop shells use those.) and then nestle the scallops in, scatter croutons and small basil leaves on top as the finishing touches.

{tags coquilles saint-jacques scallops in white wine sauce}