It was my turn to cook. I was feeling a little gourmet and in the mood for sea scallops. Yes, this was a little daunting for me since my husband is usually the one to cook scallops in our house. He went to culinary school, and has watched the food Network for over 7 years. He has way more tricks up his sleeve than I do. But I've seen him do it plenty of times and felt confident enough to cook them.
But do you ever avoid cooking because you don’t want to deal with the “aftermath” like this pan? Well, sorry, but it is a fact of life and a part of cooking. But, if you have the right pan, it can make all the difference!
Start with a good quality pan. None of this non-stick Teflon stuff. Not a cast iron pan either. These certainly have their place, but not for this recipe. This pan is a skillet coated in ceramic and it provides a nice sear. That picture above, looks worse than it is and was extremely easy to clean up after. TIP: As soon as you pull the scallops out, put your pan in the sink with hot water to soak. BEFORE you even sit down to eat. Otherwise, this will turn into cement and be very difficult to clean later. #ad
What you will need:
Ceramic Skillet
Fresh garlic
Silicone Garlic Peeler
Scallops
Garlic powder
Real Sea Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Grass-Fed quality Butter (I like Kerry Gold butter I buy in bulk at Costco)
Preheat the pan over medium heat. I have seen my husband preheat the pan for what seems like forever, but it is fine since there is nothing in it. This is an excellent opportunity to multi-task and get the items ready to go.
Cover a plate with some paper towels. Place the scallops on top of the paper towels to dry them off a little. Sprinkle some sea salt and garlic powder on one side only.
Begin prepping the garlic while the pan heats up. Get some fresh garlic cloves and remove the skins. Oh, this is only my favorite kitchen tool EVER! #ad
My son peeled all of the garlic on his own. It is so easy, my four-year-old can do it. Plus, it is always a great idea to involve the kiddos while cooking so they get excited about eating what they made.
Sautee the garlic in lots of butter. Once it is golden brown, add your scallops seasoned side down. Let them simmer on medium heat for about 5-7 minutes. Since mine were still a little frozen, they created a lot of juice in the pan.
MOM HACK #1: Right here is where you want to bring your pan over to the sink and pour out all this excess juice. Careful not to lose any garlic. I use a spatula or a fork to block the drips so I don’t lose anything but the sea scallop water.
This, right here, is how the scallops will get a good sear. They need to be touching the pan, not floating in water.
Bring your pan back to the stove and re-coat it. This time, use some extra virgin olive oil. Season the top of your scallops then flip them to put seasoned side down.
MOM HACK #2 Do not move the scallops once they are placed! If you do, you will not get a good sear on them. Some people sit there and tap every scallop, shake the pan, and constantly move scallops from side to side. This WILL mess up your sear. Walk away for 5-7 minutes.
I walked away because the temptation was too great. Something about food sizzling in a pan makes me want to move it around. But I resisted. I got my green beans set up to steam and started heating my rice.
MOM HACK #3: One of my favorite sayings is, “Cook once, eat twice.” I had rice leftover this week from Taco Tuesday. Whoo hoo! All I needed was to heat it up. Score!
By the time I got my green beans in the vegetable steamer and my rice in the pan with some bone broth to heat, it was time to flip the scallops. Before you flip, sprinkle again with salt and some garlic powder.
If your pan has completely dried out, which mine had, I added pats of butter around them (about 3 big pats) to melt. As you flip the scallops for the last time, the butter will get underneath and give them a nice coating. I could see my perfect sear on the side that was just face down. Awesome! I was on the right track.
This time, only about 3-5 minutes to get the sear, since they are almost all the way cooked.
By now, my green beans are ready, rice is hot, and I can start plating.
As I pull the green beans out of the steam, I add butter on the pile once it is on the plate. Then, I drizzle extra virgin olive oil and add a pinch of salt. This flavor combo perfectly complements the sea scallops since you used these ingredients on the scallops.
Remove the rice from the heat and serve. Same thing, adding more butter and olive oil to the rice to flavor. In my podcast Episode 8, I talked about why fat is important for your health. This grass-fed butter is the best and so good for you. It is easy to get it into your healthy diet if used in this way.
Pull the scallops from the pan and serve. You can scrape the pan with a spatula to get all the crispy garlic bits to top off your scallops. Look at that beautiful sear! Good job and Happy Cooking!
#MommyBlogger #MyRockerbeez #EatMoreFish #HealthyEating #MomLife #SeaScallops #Cooking4Kids #EasyMeals #MomHacks #GarlicPeeler #CeramicSkillet #EatMoreVeg
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