Sautéed Scallops

Guillermo was in town and joined us for dinner. We started with a Greek Salad that had all my favorite ingredients: Feta, Red Pepper, Olives, Red Onion, etc. It was perfect on a hot summer night.

We then had Sautéed Scallops. We purchased the Scallops at McCall’s Meat and Fish. We used a new recipe for us: Sea Scallops With Brown Butter, Capers and Lemon. It was delicious. We recommend this recipe. There are a few groceries that sell Okinawa Purple Yams topped with Miso, Scallops and Butter. They are exceedingly sweet. We baked them and served them with the Scallops. 

Sea Scallops With Brown Butter, Capers and Lemon

New York Times

This bright yet rich treatment for scallops came to The Times in a 2009 article about Kevin Zraly, the wine director of Windows on the World from 1976 to 2001. Mr. Zraly turned the restaurant into an international wine mecca: at the time it was destroyed, when the World Trade Center fell, its cellar held close to 100,000 bottles of 1,500 labels. Mr. Zraly and Michael Lomonaco, the chef at the restaurant (both of whom were not at work on Sept. 11 when the planes hit), worked together on hundreds of wine and food pairings throughout the years. This was Mr. Zraly's favorite of Mr. Lomonaco's creations. With it, he recommends a Puligny Montrachet, Olivier Leflaive.

Ingredients

12     fresh sea scallops

Sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

¼      cup olive oil

3       tablespoons unsalted butter

1       tablespoon finely chopped shallot

2       tablespoons salt-packed capers, rinsed of excess salt

Juice of half a lemon

⅓      cup (packed) flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

1.   Pat scallops dry with paper towels, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Heat a large sauté pan or nonreactive skillet over medium-high heat, and add oil. After 30 seconds, add scallops; do not crowd pan, work in batches if necessary. Sauté until well browned, about 2 minutes, then turn and cook other side. When second side is dark golden, transfer scallops to a platter; cover and keep warm.

2.   Return sauté pan to heat, add butter, and cook until it begins to foam and turn golden. Add shallot and capers, sauté for 1 minute, then add lemon juice (being careful to avoid sputtering butter) and chopped parsley.

3.   To serve, place 3 scallops on each of 4 warmed plates. Spoon butter, shallots and capers over scallops, and serve.