Scallops w/ Lemon Basil Wine Sauce

[numbereleven]

Made this again last night, it's been a favorite at the numbereleven house for a few years.

Get a pound of sea scallops (about $14 at HEB), dry them with a paper towel, and season with kosher salt and ground pepper. Put some olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan, get it hot, and add those scallops. Go with a medium flame or the oil will start popping too much. Sear the scallops for several minutes on each side, make sure to scrape the pan as you go and get that brown goodness on those things. When you're done and those babies and turning slightly brown, put them on a plate and cover with foil. Turn the heat down to low, we'll get back to this in a second.

Right now, boil water and add 8 oz of pasta, preferably angel hair or linguine, but I guess fettucine would work. As long as it'll hold onto sauce that isn't terribly thick, go with it, whatever you like.

OK, so the pasta is on its way. Fire up the pan to medium again and add a little more oil and another tablespoon of butter. Add some more ground pepper, a diced shallot, and some garlic, let's say 3 cloves minced. If you have a jar of prechopped garlic, even better. Saute those shallots for a minute or two. Add a cup of white wine and a cup of clam juice. Stir it up good and reduce it. It'll take a while, maybe 10 minutes to get it a bit thicker, but those flavors will play together nicely.

OK, pasta's done, so drain it and reserve.

When the sauce is where you like it (remember, it will thicken just a bit when it cools), add a handful of ripped-up fresh basil, and squeeze an entire lemon in there. Now we're talking, and it will smell allsome at this point. Cook another minute, then take the heat to low and dump the pasta in there. Cook one more minute while tossing it around.

Divide it into two plates, place the scallops on top, and enjoy. I love a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with this, but that's just me.

 

[DRAG69]

Be careful buying scallops at grocery store fish markets.
A lot of times they are not real scallops.
I am not sure what fish they are cut from but unless they have their abductor on them they are more than likely fake.

The abductor by the way is that little piece that connects it to it's shell.

 

[WaywardHorn]

In reply to:

---

---

 

[judgroybeanbag]

FWIW it's "adductor". An abductor muscle draws a body part away from the mid-line or axis point of the body. An adductor draws a body part toward the mid-line or axis point. The muscle in question, when contracting, pulls the top and bottom shell together in order to propel the scallop through the water. I'm not a marine biologist but I did watch Alton Brown on good eats...

 

[3_yard-out]

I thought Alton Brown said the adductor is usually removed when you get them?

 

[numbereleven]

Behold the Wikipedia.

I think what folks are referring to is the little tough area that scallops sometimes get. On mine from the other night, all were fine except one that had a slightly tougher area, lighter white in color.

 

[DLev]

That sounds great, I did a little bit simpler version of this that turned out well, also.

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen large raw shrimp, about 15 in the bag
1 or 2 frozen filets of white fish
small container of pesto spread. This was by the fresh pasta at my grocery store. It is about the size of a tub of cream cheese.
fresh garlic
olive oil
white wine
fettucine
salt, pepper

After thawing the fish and shrimp, I heated a large deep pan and put in a small amount of olive oil, enough to barely cover the pan and sauted some minced garlic. I cut the fish into square inch sized pieces and put the fish and shrimp in the pan. I then added a little of the pesto spread at a time. It is thick and needs to melt in. I also added some wine, just eyeballing everything, making sure there is enough liquid that thinks don't burn. As it turned out, the whitefish basically flaked away and became part of the background of the dish along with the pesto, which was great because it gave it a nice texture.

Now since I was cooking the seafood and the sauce at the same time, I started doing the sauce while heating the water and put the fettucine directly from the pot into the pan with the sauce and shrimp and tossed the fettucine until it was coated. One of the best meals I've tasted and it was great because with the pesto spread, which contains olive oil, basil, and parmesan cheese, it was very easy to prepare.