Simple, delicious, fast. Maybe serve some toast on the side? I like to have a little crunch from the bread, just for contrast. Note: the cooking instructions for this dish will be slightly different depending on whether you use regular scallops or bay scallops.
Seared Scallops with Parsley Salad
If you’re lucky enough to live in the Northeast, October and November generally bring bay scallops to market, sweet and small, roughly the size of the end of your pinkie finger. They’re fantastic for this dish, but do not cook them as I instruct for regular scallops, searing them hard on one side. You’ll overcook a bay scallop that way. Simply warm them through in hot butter and serve.
Ingredients
- Parsley
- Shallot
- Olive oil
- Lemon
- Scallops
- Butter, bacon fat, or duck fat
Instructions
- Make a salad of chopped parsley, sliced shallot, a little olive oil, a lot of lemon juice, and a sprinkle of salt. Then take your scallops, fat as field mice, and pull and discard the little tabs of muscle from their sides. Put a honking big pat of butter or a spoonful of bacon or duck fat into a large pan set over high heat and sear the scallops hard on one side, then turn them carefully and heat through. Serve on or next to the parsley salad.
Notes
Reprinted from The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipe. Text copyright © 2021 by Sam Sifton and The New York Times Company. Photographs copyright © 2021 by David Malosh and Food Styling by Simon Andrews. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House.