Scallops with pea basil puree
Prep time: approximately 20 minutes
Serves 4 people
If you haven’t yet figured it out, I love seafood. This wasn’t always the case. I have no memories of eating anything that came from the sea until my late teens, and only in my twenties, when I learned to cook, did I realize I actually liked seafood. Scallops were the last thing I “came around to”, I think in large part because when done poorly they are rubbery and gross. I remember at some point in my late twenties, Josh and I were at a wedding, where scallops were on the menu (I avoided them) and Josh declared that he liked them. I took a bite. Not bad. Always up for a challenge, that’s when I decided that I was going to figure out how to make them well.
We’ve eaten them for years now at home, but every time I pitched a preparation - on top of a salad - in a pasta - in a medley of other seafood - we all agreed that the “extra” didn’t add to the beautiful scallop by itself (by this point, I’d gotten good at cooking them). Finally, when driving through Wyoming on a road trip a few weeks ago, with the kids fast asleep in the back seat (!!!!!), I told Josh my dilemma - I was determined to include a scallop recipe in my cookbook - because I wanted others to learn to appreciate them as I had - but I was struggling to come up with anything that made them better than they were alone .
We talked about this for an hour, with breaks to gasp and the jaw-dropping scenery, and for him to tell me the history of a song that came on. I kept “pitching” ingredients to Josh - most, we agreed, would overpower the scallop. All of this was beautifully out-of-place: we had been eating out of the cooler in the trunk of our car for several days, and I had lost track of the number of PB&Js I had made. We needed to get gas, so we pulled into a gas station, hoping the kids would stay asleep (who were we kidding?). The mini-mart attached to the gas station was well-stocked (for a gas station), and I found a real score: a bag of peas in the produce section that looked eatable - fresh, even (usually my “fresh” gas station finds were restricted to apples and bananas that I wouldn’t characterize as “fresh” ). I walked out of that gas station with ice for the cooler, the bag of peas, and this recipe in my head.
It was another week before I made it to my parents’ house, had access to a real kitchen, and could test it out. With that, came the next great surprise: my dad told me it was the first time he had liked eating a scallop! Score number two! Hope you enjoy this one.
4 oz peas (frozen or fresh) - if fresh, pods should be removed
2 oz fresh basil leaves
3 oz creme fraiche
zest and juice from one lemon
12 scallops 15-20 count
1T olive oil
2T butter
salt and pepper
First, make the pea basil puree. If your peas are fresh, add to salted, boiling water for 30 seconds and then dump into a large bowl with ice to stop cooking. Once cool, drain water/ice. If frozen, allow to thaw. Add peas, creme fraiche, basil and lemon juice and zest to a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste, set aside.
To cook scallops, pat dry with a towel then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add butter and olive oil to a pan over medium/medium-low heat. Place scallops in pan, and cook until one side is seared, or about 3 minutes. Flip over and cook other side until edges begin to pull away, or about 90 seconds longer. Remove from heat and allow to cool before serving over the pea basil puree. Garnish with peas and/or basil.
Pairs well with a baked or roasted potatoes. The purée is my new favorite baked potato topping. If you are serving a larger, seafood-loving crowd, serve alongside salmon - I recommend this one with mango jalapeno salsa .
