Weekly Fish #6: Scallops

The day began at the Fulton Farmer's Market, where I picked up a baguette from Sun Street Breads, planning to put together a crawdad po' boy for Weekly Fish #6. Coastal Seafood had been promoting their crawdads lately, and so I was inspired. Sadly, they had run out of the diminutive crustaceans by the time I visited them. So, I called an audible and picked up some sea scallops instead. With our new How to Cook Everything, I was well-prepared for the task.

This preparation was fast and simple. All it takes is some butter, oil, and a few minutes on each side, for a perfectly-done scallop. After removing the seared scallops, I poured in some Wollersheim chardonnay to deglaze the pan and reduce a nice sauce.

The baguette became a bruschetta, topped with oven-dried tomatoes. While I was preparing the scallops, I had forgotten about the bruschetta under the broiler, so after burning half the lot, Jess had to make an emergency second batch. Nice save.

I decided to saute some pea greens for a colorful garnish. On paper, it seemed to make sense; I could imagine seeing this on the menu at a nice restaurant: "Pan seared scallops with sauteed pea greens." But in practice it wasn't the best idea ... sauteed pea greens are about as tender as dried switchgrass. But it made for an appealing presentation.



Overall, not bad. The scallops were creamy, with a touch of crispiness on the edges. And it was a pleasure alternating between the buttery bivalves and the crunchy, acidic bruschetta.

But I still have a hankering for a po' boy...