Recipe for Scallops with Creamy Pesto Pasta-Secret Recipe Club

The blog I got to snoop around on this month for the Secret Recipe Club was Lisa's Cook Lisa Cook.  Lisa and her family (husband and daughter) live in the Atlanta area, near where I used to live and where I still have family.  She's a transplant from New England, her hubby from across the Atlantic, and their daughter all the way from China.  Lisa also writes another blog about their life as an adoptive family.  But on to this recipe-it comes together pretty quickly so best to be organized.  I used a commercial pesto sauce and it was fine but I do think this would be amazing with the fresh taste of homemade pesto-next time!  Lisa also used lemon pepper pasta which I could not find so I used my favorite multi-grain and added a generous squirt of lemon to the sauce.

Yield: 2 servings

Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 8 large scallops. dried very well
• 2 servings of your favorite pasta (I used whole grain linguine)
• Peanut oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup minced shallot
• 1/2 cup minced sweet red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup basil pesto
• 1 1/2 cups fat free half and half
• Juice from 1 large lemon

Method:

• Cook pasta according to package directions.
• Generously season the scallops with salt and pepper.
• Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat, and add just enough oil to coat the bottom.  Heat until very hot.
• Heat enough oil over medium high heat to coat the bottom of another pan and add the shallots, cooking for a minute or two until softened.  Then add the red pepper and cook an additional 1-2 minutes.
• While the veggies are cooking, sear the scallops 2 minutes per side (don't overcook, they should be slightly translucent in the center).
• Stir the pesto and half and half in to the veggies and cook over medium until warmed through and gently bubbling.  Stir in the lemon juice.
• Combine the sauce and cooked pasta. 
• Serve the pasta topped with the scallops.

I think this would also be good with shrimp.  Thanks to Lisa for a creative recipe idea!


Check out all the recipes from this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal through the links below.

Printable recipe

Original recipe on Lisa's blog

Recipe for Braised Scallops-Daring Cooks

The March, 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Carol, a/k/a Poisonive – and she challenged us all to learn the art of Braising! Carol focused on Michael Ruhlman’s technique and shared with us some of his expertise from his book “Ruhlman’s Twenty”.  While braising is often thought of when using less than tender cuts of beef, I went a different path and created a recipe for braised scallops.


Carol tells us that "Braising, from the French “braiser”, offers us a combination cooking method – dry heat followed by moist heat. Typically, meat is seared in hot fat which helps to add flavor and aromas, improves color (browning), and texture (crust). It is then submerged in liquid and cooked slowly and gently at low heat."



I have been itching to use some of the lemongrass growing in our front garden.

I harvested a few stems, chopped them very fine and combined the lemongrass with ginger, coconut milk, fish sauce, and some finely chopped red pepper and sugar snap peas.

For the braising, I quickly browned the scallops on each side and then simmered them in the coconut milk/lemongrass sauce.  Served over rice, this was quite delicious!

Time:  20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings


Ingredients:

• 16 large scallops
• 1 TBSP Olive oil
• ½ cup finely diced red pepper, plus few matchsticks for serving
• ½ cup finely diced sugar snap peas, plus few matchsticks for serving
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 TBSP fish sauce
• 1 TBSP finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 TBSP finely chopped fresh lemongrass (or 2 TBSP lemon or lime juice if lemongrass is not available)
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

• Heat cast iron or other pan over high heat and add olive oil.
• Season both sides of scallops with salt and pepper.
• When oil is hot and shimmering, add scallops (watch for splattering) and sear on each side, about 30 seconds per side.
• Remove scallops and turn heat to med-high.
• Add red pepper and sugar snap peas, sauté for 3 minutes.
• Add coconut milk, ginger, fish sauce, and lemongrass (or lemon/lime juice).
• Turn heat to low and add scallops.
• Simmer for 8-10 minutes until scallops are almost done (still slightly transparent inside).
• Serve over rice with sprinkle of salt and pepper and garnished with matchsticks of red pepper and snap peas.

Printable recipe

Quick, simple and tasty!  Love it.

You can see recipes from other Daring Cooks here.

Other Daring Cooks challenges I've participated in:

Indian flavored squash fritters

Beef braised in Rooibos Tea with sweet potatoes

Char Sui Bao