Ooooh!!! Scallops! My Favorite.

 
 Today's lunch is seared scallops with a fresh garden tomato and cucumber salad.
Caramelized onions and pesto deliciously found their way into the mix.

 Let's start with the onions.

Slice an onion thinly.
Pour a film of oil in your skillet.
Medium-low heat.
Salt and pepper.










Leave 'em alone for a while.
Come back and check every now and then.
Move 'em around.
Let 'em caramelize.
Slowly.                                                                            


Until they look like this.

Now, prepare the scallops.         
Look for that little "foot" on the side of the scallop.
It's a tough little muscle and it needs to be removed.

Simply pull the muscle off.

Give it to your cat.

Then rinse the scallops and pat them dry.

Make a seasoning mix for the scallops:
1 TB flour
1 TB cornstarch
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Mix all together in a small container.
Add the scallops and shakeshakeshake.

In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, pour a thin film of peanut oil in and 1-2 TB unsalted butter.  When the butter starts to brown, add in the scallops.  I checked the temperature with my instant read laser thermometer and it was 400°.  Cook about 1/1/2 minutes on first side and about a minute on the other.  Note:  These are large ocean scallops.

Remove pan from open flame/heat and add in a big splash of sherry.
Now, here comes the fun part!

Return pan to flame and tilt aaaannnnnddddd .........

WHOOSH!!!!!!!

Be sure you have your exhaust fan OFF.  Don't want to suck those flames up into greasy duct work and burn the house down.

Let flames die down and remove scallops.

Stir up the goody bits.

That's where all the flavor is.

And pour over scallops.

Aren't those scallops beautemous?



Add a little pile of caramelized onions.
Sweet!

 
I'd made a side salad out of sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion.
Added a little sugar, rice vinegar, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper.
Tossed to coat evenly.

I had some pesto, so I thought, "Why not?"
Throw that in too.

Oh, this is sooooo gooooood!

And pretty, too!

Enjoy!