There’s a misconception that cooking seafood at home is, at best, not worth it and, at worst, a total nightmare. But Amanda Frederickson’s recipe for seared scallops with green peas, mint and shallots (from her cookbook Simple Beautiful Food) has arrived just in time to debunk the myth.
For starters, it’s less than ten ingredients including salt and pepper. And the whole dish takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. Plus, there’s bacon.
Our number one tip for success? Make sure the scallops are super dry before plopping them in the hot skillet. Otherwise, they’ll never get a gorgeous golden brown sear (and that’s kind of the best part).
Reprinted from Simple Beautiful Food. Copyright © 2020 by Amanda Frederickson. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House.
Pan-Seared Scallops with Citrusy Corn Succotash
Ingredients
2½ cups fresh or frozen green peas
¼ cup fresh mint leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 strips bacon, chopped into ½-inch pieces
1 large shallot, minced
1½ pounds large sea scallops, patted dry and foot muscle removed
Flaky sea salt (optional, for serving)
Directions
1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, blanch the peas until bright green and soft, about 3 minutes. Reserve ½ cup of the peas and transfer the rest to a blender. Blend, drizzling in ¼ to ½ cup of water to reach a creamy consistency. Add the mint leaves, a large pinch of salt, and a pinch of black pepper and blend until smooth. Set aside but keep warm.
2. In a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until the fat is rendered, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove and pour out all but 1 tablespoon of fat, reserving the remaining fat and setting aside. Add the shallot and sauté for about 30 seconds. Add the reserved peas and bacon. Cook for about 30 seconds more, then remove but keep warm.
3. In the same pan, warm 2 tablespoons of the reserved fat over high heat until just barely smoking, then add the scallops, and cook for about 2 minutes on each side.
4. Serve the scallops with the pea puree, a sprinkle of the bacon mixture and flaky sea salt if desired.