Seared Sea Scallops with Sage Pan Sauce

It’s a damn SCALLOPALOOZA! I know, this sauce is similar to a lot of what I make but this is seriously awesome and looks way harder than it really is. And when paired with the suggested sparkling wine, oh my hell, it’s freaking awesome. It looks freaking awesome too, check it:

Yes, they show up better on my Dixie College plates. Don’t ask me how I procured a set of these.

Ingredients:

4-5 large scallops per person Onion powder Garlic powder Sea salt Cracked black pepper Medium shallot, thinly sliced Olive oil 1 tbsp butter ½ cup white wine ¼ cup low-sodium chicken broth Juice from ½ a lemon 10 fresh sage leaves, cut into thin strips (that’s called chiffonade if you fancy, girl) Enough angel hair or fettuccini noodles for the number of people you’re serving

Directions:

Drop pasta in well-salted pan of boiling water and cook until al dente. Set aside.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil and a little bit of butter in a large pan over medium heat. (Be sure to use as big of a pan as you can because you don’t want to crowd the scallops. If you crowd the little guys, they’ll steam before you get a good brown on the outside.) While pan heats, season scallops on both sides to taste with the onion and garlic powders, sea salt and black pepper. In hot pan, evenly space scallops and don’t lift up until they’re brown on the bottom and cooked nearly into the middle, flip and do the same thing on the other side (like, only do about 3-4 minutes a side otherwise they’ll get too chewy.)

Remove from pan and keep scallops hot if you need to do more batches, adding more olive oil and butter, if needed.

Once all the scallops are done (they’ll be evenly white in the middle with the nice brown crisp on both ends,) add the shallot and brown, scraping up any little brown bits on the pan. Add sage strips and cook until crispy. Add the wine and cook until it reduces by half, then add chicken broth until it reduces down and thickens. Add lemon juice and then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place scallops on a small bed of the noodles and then top with the pan sauce. Delicious! Pair with a dry, sparkling wine like Barefoot Brut Cavee Bubbly because it’s only $10 a bottle and has just a tart little finish that compliments the seafood.