How to Make Seared Scallops

Today I’m taking full advantage of nature’s bounty to make this amazing seared scallop dish with the creamiest baked potatoes you’ve ever had in your life. Also there’s a fresh strawberry salad, little sugar snap peas, and just amazing everything. Okay, let’s get started.

Preparing the Potatoes

Bring a pot of water to a boil and then add in maybe a teaspoon of salt. You’ll see some bubbling action happening; that’s great. Now add in your beautiful little baby potatoes and we’re going to parboil them, so let them boil for like five minutes or so. Fish them out and transfer to a baking sheet—steamy.

Since we’ve parboiled them, they’ll be roasting much faster. I’m going to give them a nice healthy drizzle of olive oil, little coating of salt, and then toss them all around. You can scale this recipe up, by the way; this is like four, maybe two or three people, but if you’re feeding a family, double, triple—it works all the same. Into the oven at 450.

Blanching the Peas

Launch the peas in boiling water for about two to three minutes.

Making the Strawberry Vinaigrette

Yesterday I went to the farmers market and I got the most amazing strawberries. If you know what these are called, DME, but most of them are tiny little baby strawberries and they are the sweetest thing I’ve ever had in my life—so amazing. I’ve been forcing people to eat them even if they don’t like strawberries or it’s too early in the morning for them to eat it. I’m going to use some of these in my salad; it’s going to especially complement my dressing. Usually I’d use a touch of honey in here, but I think just two strawberries, a little bit of olive oil, champagne vinegar, and some fresh herbs will be beautiful to dress the side salad.

Let’s start off by removing that little cap from our strawberries. I want to make dressings, but I feel so—I will write a recipe for you, but it’s more about a proportion of what you like. You like a sweeter dressing, but you might want things to be really acidic; it’s totally up to your personal tastes, so more strawberries, less strawberries, more vinegar or less—it’s up to you.

The one downside of all this beautiful farmers market produce is that it is at peak ripeness, so I really have to use all of it immediately because it won’t last. I also have these beautiful baby onions; I’m going to add in just a few slices, and they’re actually going to tickle a bit with the champagne vinegar I’m adding. You could use any vinegar, by the way; I just like champagne vinegar because I’m bougie like that, and they’ll be really nice. I’m going to add in a few tablespoons of my vinegar, muddle the strawberries just a bit to get them started. Oh, that color is gorgeous—do you see that beautiful? Add in my fresh onions, a good amount of olive oil. I’m taking some fresh rosemary from my mom’s garden; I’m going to bruise it a bit just to get started and give it a really rough chop. This beautiful stuff is lemon verbena, one of my very most favorite smells in the world, and it was fresh yesterday but dried overnight, so I’m going to take a couple leaves, give them a crush, and add them into here. You can also use this to make a beautiful fresh tea. Okay, let’s cap this off, give it a nice shake—pretend it’s a cocktail. Now we can take a taste test—so good. Hmm, I really love it. This will mellow out and kind of come together while we finish the rest of the dish, and we’ll dress our salad at the very end.

Searing the Scallops

In my opinion, seared scallops are one of the most decadent pleasures in life. I love them; they’re perfectly cooked, caramelized on the outside, and they can have a ton of flavor, but there’s a few ways to ruin them. You don’t want to overcook them, and you also want to make sure you remove all the moisture before you sear them. So take your scallop, put on some paper towel, and then just pat it dry. You want to have a nice dry scallop before you get started. Your scallop is going to be done when it releases from the pan; basically, once the scallop is seared on one side, it’s not going to stick to the pan anymore. So if you’re trying to pry that scallop off, you’re doing it wrong—don’t sweat that scallop, pop. Let it do its thing; leave it there for the appointed amount of time, and then flip it over and sear again. You don’t want to move it around the pan; you want to be connected to that pan until it releases. That way you’ll get a nice caramelized edge, right?

We’re going to salt and pepper our scallops, so sprinkle on both sides, add your pepper. Now I have a pan that’s been on high heat; it’s actually a cast-iron pan, and it’s probably really hot right now. I’m going to add a nice dollop of butter onto it, wait for it to get a little bit smoky—so the butter is at its maximum heat—and then we’re going to add our scallops on for about 90 seconds. Turn them over and then cook for another minute, maybe 30 seconds; I’m going to eyeball it.

Plating the Dish

My potatoes and scallops are done—announcement: it’s time to arrange our beautiful plate. I think I’m going to be slicing these potatoes, and I have to tell you, I tried one off camera, and it is like baked cream; it is so beautifully just like exactly what you want a potato to be like. So if you can find little baby potatoes, parboil and then roast them—they’ll be delicious. I think I’m going to give these a little slice to arrange them out into manageable bite-sized pieces. I have to show you the inside of the pink potatoes; that is—it’s gorgeous saffron in color, and I really want to have a nice play of hues on the plate because it’s actually a really simple dish, but it’s going to be delicious and have a lot of visual interest. So that’s going to be perfect for summer because you want to have a light dish, not just a huge boatload of carbs because it’ll weigh you down and make you tired, but you still want to have all the flavor.

If you’re going to go to the trouble of presenting whole pea pods, go ahead and remove the spine. After baking, just now you should have a treasure trove of these gorgeous peas on the inside—look at that lovely. I found these adorable little baby radishes at the farmers market yesterday, and I bought them on an impulse, and I just have to use them in my salad. They will add a nice bite, and they have a good crunch. You can use adult radishes and just slice them thinly or into manageable bite-sized pieces, but how cute are these—come on, people. Okay, going into the salad, just clean off the edges so you know I like my dishes to look pretty.

Let’s talk about plating: I’m arranging some of my little mixed greens; those beautiful tiny strawberries are going to go in next, followed by all of my pretty peas. The potatoes, which I’ve cut in half, and I want to arrange some of those golden and white ones so you get a nice contrast. Drizzling on that delicious strawberry vinaigrette, and now I’m just going to place my scallops—these are so beautiful. I love a good sear. I finished this dish off with a couple sprigs of Queen Anne’s lace, these delicate little flowers with the strong woody taste. Totally feel free to skip it, but I love the look of the flowers mixed with the berries and the peas and the scallops.

Final Taste

I’ve arranged a small bite for an on-camera taste test—bear with me while I chew. Mmm. Okay, here’s the deal: those peas are so crunchy and sweet; it really adds a lot of texture. The potatoes are so creamy—if you can find baby potatoes, it makes a huge difference in my experience. Also, I love parboiling and then roasting; I think it takes full advantage of just everything the potato needs to be delicious. Fresh strawberries, all the greens, those little baby radishes—all of it works really well together, and of course those scallops are perfectly seared. Follow those simple instructions: just a little bit of butter, some salt and pepper, and you’re good to go. It’s really, really satisfying. I hope you get to make this recipe.