AAF’s Recipe of the Day
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on April 29, 2008 – 1:06 pm -Yes! It’s spinach day! Today I’ll combine two of my favorite foodstuffs: spinach and fresh scallops. If you can get hold of a dozen or so fresh scallops, this will go wonderfully with a bunch of baby spinach leaves.
So say for 4 persons you’ll need 1 pound of fresh spinach, stemmed and washed, not dried, 1 lb of bay scallops out of the shell, 4 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced finely, 6 shallots, peeled and minced, ¼ cup of a good, dry white wine, 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest and a small amount of double cream to bind the whole dish. Freshly ground pepper & salt to taste.
Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, shallots and lemon zest and cook for 20 seconds, stirring continuously. Add the spinach and toss occasionally until wilted.
Drain off the liquid and season with 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Keep the spinach warm. Heat up the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil in the same skillet over medium heat, add the scallops and sauté for 1 minute or until just cooked through. Remove the scallops from the pan and set aside with the spinach. Add the cooking juices, lemon juice, wine and cream.
Cook furiously for 2 or 3 minutes, reducing and scraping the bottom of the pan as you go. Remove from the heat, then toss in the scallops & spinach and season with salt and pepper to taste. Nice and easy. A great way to start dinner.
Tags: Recipe, Scallops, Spinach
Posted in Recipes |
11 Comments
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It sounds like a great way to start dinner and finish dinner! More than an appetizer, certainly? I love this kind of quick sauté and de-glaze cooking. One pan, one fire–simple and timeless.
You could serve it either way, to start with or as a main. I used to cook scallops in a vanilla & saffron broth in Sydney.
Oh this sound heavenly. Spinach, scallops, garlic, cream. Oh My.
One question. You mention dried spinach. WTF is that? Bleech, as I can only imagine. The frozen product we can easily get here is quite good, BTW.
I meant to say don’t buy the dried stuff, horrible, I don’t mind the frozen stuff even though it’s watery but the dried stuff is just ughhhh!
So, to clarify, you meant that the spinach should be washed and left a bit wet for the wilting?
Yes, in a nutshell, because it’s going to get wet again!
Although re-reading it, I can see why you asked!
Hehehe, I got a giggle out of ‘cook furiously’.
Wonderful recipe. I love scallops, and spinach goes so well with those, and oysters, too!
I’ll post the recipe for an oyster mousseline one day, served with a sea-urchin sabayon. How’s that for a double dose of iodine!!
Ooh, yum! I’ll be watching for it.
There is an art in cooking scallops - properly (under)cooked, they are heavenly tender and light - twenty seconds too long on the fire, and they become tough little hockey pucks! This recipe sounds wonderful, as it contains so many of my favorite foods!