Pan Seared Scallops with Champagne Grapes and Toasted Almonds



Amazing!! Top 10 recipe we've ever made for sure. From Bon Appetit. This really was a great meal however if you read the main contents of the the dish—butter—how could it not be. The sweet/seafood mixture of the gapes and scallops went together so perfectly. Then the almonds really add a great little extra crunch. I might use sliced instead of slivered next time—I don't know why, I just think the slivered may have added a bit too much crunch. Whatever, I'm getting nit-picky. The dish is actually pretty easy to throw together too, it just took about a half hour total which is great because now you can eat gourmet on a weeknight (hey, that should be the title of this post). If you can find the champagne grapes you should take advantage of them. Harris Teeter (our grocer) had a sign saying they're only available from something like June-September so you need to act fast if you're in the South. Problem is we now have a bunch of left over Champagne grapes and no idea what to do with them. So please feel free to comment on some suggestions!



On a side not Jessi and I found this recipe by perusing through a cool site called Food Gawker. We have not taken the time to create an account and start sharing some photos but think we will. This is a great place to find some inspiration too. We're sure a bunch of you are already on it. Do ya'll enjoy this site?

Ingredients

  • 16 large sea scallops
  • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 1.5 Tablespoons minced shallots
  • 2/3 cup Champagne grapes (4 ounces) or black grapes, halved
  • 1.5 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds, toasted
  • 1.5 Tablespoons chopped parsley
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Melt 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the butter until it is browned, about 2 minutes.
  2. Salt and pepper scallops before adding them to the pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side and transfer to a dish, covering to keep warm.
  3. Melt the remaining 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and grapes; sauce until the shallots are golden brown, about one minute.
  4. Stir in fresh lemon juice and any accumulated scallop juice from the plate of cooked scallops. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Stir in almonds and parsley.
  5. Place scallops on individual plates and spoon the sauce over them. Serve immediately.

21 comments:

Unknown said...

that looks delicious!!!

pam said...

So this is not only gorgeous, it tastes good too!! Yes, I've spent too much time and effort trying to get photos accepted to Food Gawker. I finally gave upl.

Kerstin said...

Wow, this totally looks like a dish you'd get at a restaurant - yum! I still haven't tried cooking scallops at home yet but they are on my list to tackle :)

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Wow, this is gorgeous and you've presented it beautifully. I'm not very familiar with the champagne grapes and I've only seen them once, in a local farmer's market. Best of luck with Food Gawker.
Sam

Conor @ Hold the Beef said...

Ooh you've got some damn good searing on those scallops. Gourmet all the way!

As for those leftover grapes... I think they'd be lovely in an alcoholic dessert jelly like a Pimm's jelly perhaps :)

Christina said...

What a gorgeous picture! Those look fantastic!

Chef E said...

What a graceful dish! I thought of you guys when I visited a brewery in Brisbee AZ, they had this IPA brew, and a few others I will write about!

mysimplefood said...

wow! This dish looks delicious. I like the beautiful tiny grapes..

Juliana said...

Oh! This is a lovely dish, so creative, love the idea of using the champagne grapes...with almonds...beautiful dish.

Heather S-G said...

Beautiful!! This sounds so elegant...and looks equally so :)

Admin said...

Love the tiny little champagne grapes in this! I wonder why I don't cook or bake often enough with them.

liz said...

Top 10 eh? Never would have considered this combo. As for champagne grapes, they were the height of elegance in my childhood mind, crystalized in sugar to look frozen, and draped on a wedding cake. Also, Tastespotting is similar to FoodGawker, and google Liqurious for cocktails.

grace said...

fancy-shmancy! the pop of juice from those little grapes and the crunch from the almonds are excellent contrasts in texture--tis a dish very well done. :)

Anonymous said...

I need to find champagne grapes - stat! Love everything about that dish.

I even have scallops in my deep freeze - I have a scallop gratin on my menu (if the weather gets cool enough for me to turn on my oven!) so this may be my back up recipe!

Pam said...

It looks fantastic! I can only imagine how delicious it is and must try the recipe. Just wish we could buy fresh scallops here. I'm new at your blog and see lots of great recipes! Thanks for this one!

Velva said...

Oh my God! Scallops are my favorite and this dish is simply stunning. Beautiful. This recipe will be made for sure. Thanks.

lisaiscooking said...

Those champagne grapes are so cute! This sounds like a great meal!

Dee said...

Dear Fresco, I too am a Food & Wine addict. Not only is it a beautiful dish but the combination of grapes with the scallops sounds possitively ethereal.

Trissa said...

I was sold just by looking at the scallops - they look very plump and juicy... they should taste amazing with the champagne grapes (hard to come by Australia, I might just use regular grapes for this).

My Little Space said...

Jolly good, I am salivating already! I am loving scallops in any way. Yours look really tempting. Oh, I was there too! Yumm.... Hope you're enjoying your day.
Cheers, kristy

Fitness Foodie said...

You have a great blog. These scallops look delicious.

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