I'm back from Oregon! During my short trip to attend my step-father's graduation, I picked up 6 bottles of Willamette Valley wine (mostly Pinot Noir) and a sunburn (I didn't get the memo about the 4 hour ceremony being outdoors).
I actually got back on Monday, but the past 2 nights have been occupied working out the details of the Tastespotting replacement project I've started with a friend. It's not quite done yet, but if you want to check it out, leave a comment and I'll invite you as we need beta testers.
I honestly haven't been in the mood to cook, but this is a simple classic no-brainer for bay scallops. The tartness of the wine and lemon offset the cream, and the caramelized onions and scallops add an enormous amount of umami. It's by no means a light dish, but it's also not too heavy or cloying.
For those of you that know me, you know I'll eat almost anything, but licorice flavored things are a rare exception. That said, I enjoy challenging myself to take food I don't like and turn it into something I like, so I've found uses for anise flavored things. Pernod in particular goes pretty well with seafood and I've even found myself craving the combo sometimes. I still won't touch those black tar sticks though.
The basil in this dish goes well with Pernod and if you have a fennel bulb sitting around, add it in with the spring onions. Tarragon would work too. If you want to do something different, try replacing the basil and Pernod with saffron and ginger.
This recipe first appeared on norecipes.com but due to its age I've moved it here to my personal recipe archive. Check out the full No Recipes Archives for more older recipes, or check out some of my favorite recipes.
Units
Ingredients
- ½ pound dry bay scallops
- 1 tablespoon cultured unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 small spring onion (chopped)
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon Pernod (or other anise flavoured liqueur)
- ¼ cup basil chiffonade
- salt (to taste)
- pepper (to taste)
- 220 grams pasta (I used homemade pappardelle)
Instructions
- The trick with this recipe is to make the sauce ahead, then time the pasta and scallops so they are done at the same time. Depending on the type of pasta you're using it will take different amounts of time, so I'll leave it to your discretion as to when to start the pasta.
- For the sauce, heat the 1 teaspoon olive oil in a pan. Sauté the 1 small spring onion until soft and starting to caramelize. Add the ½ cup dry white wine and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and reduce until thick and gluggy. Whisk in the ½ cup heavy cream and 1 teaspoon Pernod and turn down the heat to keep it warm.
- Clean and dry the ½ pound dry bay scallops. Heat a non-teflon pan over high heat until hot. Lightly salt and pepper the scallops. Add the 1 tablespoon cultured unsalted butter to the pan and swirl to melt. When the bubbling subsides add the scallops in a single layer without overcrowding the pan. Sear undisturbed until brown, then flip with tongs. Cook until the top ⅓ and bottom ⅓ of the scallop is opaque and the middle ⅓ is still translucent.
- Transfer the scallops to a plate, then add the cream sauce to the pan that the scallops came out of and deglaze. All that brown fond on the pan adds umami to the sauce. Add the ¼ cup basil to the sauce, then put the drained 220 grams pasta in the sauce and stir to coat.
- Plate the pasta then top with the scallops and drizzle any remaining sauce on top.
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