huh?? I don’t speak French!!
as big as these, if not bigger!
Ok, I will translate! Scallops in white wine sauce! YUM!!!
My first experience with HUGE diver scallops was at the Steam Plant Grill in Spokane, WA at a dinner with my husband. He had never had a single scallop in his life and took one bite of one of the enormous, steak-like, golden topped diver scallops and fell in love!
“It’s like a steak!” he cried.
Steam Plant Grill, Spokane WA
It was a perfect meal, they were fresh, never frozen, cut so easily with a fork and accompanied by a glass of Latah Creek Huckleberry wine – our favorite wine, the one
we had at our wedding reception even! They don’t have them on their menu, it was a friday night special and they have never had them again on a night where we went there for dinner, even though they have equally great items on thier menu – I always hope for their diver scallops!
I have had smaller scallops in a myriad of dishes, but this was the best. I have never cooked them for myself. So this was defnantly a nerve wracking dinner to put together, with huge expectations! While we were using much smaller scallops than the diver scallops we both craved (especially since we tried to find diver scallops and failed…), they had never been frozen and we bought two packs of them so if we really messed up, we would have more to practice with and snack on. Asparagus is a wildly popular side for scallops, so we picked some up – even though it was winter and it wasn’t seasonal – it is my husband’s favorite vegetable (or at least among his favorites).
Our shopping bag held our loot of asparagus and (smaller) scallops, a bottle of Muscadet and headed home to make dinner!
Of our wedding gift registry, my husband was most excited to register for and recieve his Magic Bullet, which we used to process the first group of seared scallops that would go into the sauce base – it was a blast! He played it out just like the infomercials and thoroughly enjoyed pulverizing my carefully seared scallops!
When you go to make the sauce, if you arent making the larger diver scallops, you might want to cut the necessary liquid ingredients in half or plan to reduce the sauce for alot longer so that you get the amount of sauce you’re interested in.
Working the scallops in batches, we carefully seared each puffy, round steak and set them aside to gobble down later. A tip for those cooking scallops, watch the side of the scallop and cook each until the color changes up to the mid-line and flip to cook the scallop through. If you aren’t sure how well youre cooking them through, cut one in half and check. Smaller scallops will take shorter time to cook than the larger diver scallops. Also, if you pat the surfaces dry of each scallop, they will sear properly and more evenly.
Once we got to the last batch of scallops, we blanched the asparagus in a frying pan and then quick seared them with a little butter and dash of olive oil until they were tender.
Plated together, we poured the sauce on both the asparagus and scallops (which we divided up the bounty and ate plenty of!), took some pictures and enjoyed over an episode of C.S.I. – one of our favorite things to watch over dinner together!
Ingredients:
- 2 TBsp butter
- 36 scallops
- salt and fresh ground pepper
- 2 1/2 C muscadet (white wine)
- 2C fish stock
- 3/4 C heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
First, melt 1 TBsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season 12 scallops with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 5-6 minutes and transfer to a plate.
Add 2 C of the muscadet and fish stock to the skillet, cook until thickened and reduced – approximately twenty minutes. You will want to reduce until you have the amount that you want, the longer the reduction, the stronger the flavors – so it won’t affect the overall outcome. Pour the liquid into a blender and puree with the scallops and heavy cream.
Whisk the remaining 1/2 C of muscadet and cornstarch in a skillet removed from the heat. Add the scallop puree and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until thickened, approximately 4-5 minutes. Keep warm.
Melt the remaining 1 TBsp butter in another large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook remaining scallops halved crosswise until golden brown, approximately 5-6 minutes. Scatter scallops on plate, top wtih the sauce and enjoy!