Top 10

What to make for dinner . . . the ongoing question.  I've been trying to be good about meal planning so I'm not faced with this dilemma every night but a couple of weeks ago, I asked my husband before he left for work what he wanted for dinner.  He said, "How about some scallops? And some arugula?"  I thought of a recipe from Cooking Light that I made a few years back and came up with some tweaks.  Instead of arugula, I bought a bag of baby kale from Trader Joe's instead and added the white beans and pancetta.  If you're not a kale fan, try baby spinach as a substitution.

Anyways, his idea and this dish turned out great.  So good, in fact, that my husband declared it one of the Top 10 meals.  I said, "top 10 that I've ever made?" and he said, "no, top 10 ever."  That is high praise from my husband!  I hope you like it as much as he did!  Another bonus (beside it being delicious and high in protein) is that it's really quick to the table so make sure you have everything ready to go when you start preparing the dish.

Scallops with wilted kale and white beans (serves 2)

1 pound scallops
1 cup chopped onion
4 oz diced pancetta
olive oil
1/4 tsp. red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. dry white wine
1 c. chicken broth (I used low-sodium fat free)
1 (19 oz) can cannellini beans (or other white beans), rinsed and drained 
8-10 oz fresh baby kale leaves
2 T fresh basil, thinly sliced (chiffonade)

Brown the pancetta in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Remove the pancetta with a slotted spoon.  
Sprinkle the scallops with salt. Add them to the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and keep warm.

Add a little olive oil and the onion to the pan and saute for 2 minutes. Add pepper and garlic and cook for 20 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in wine and cook for 1 minute (most of the liquid will evaporate). Stir in broth, beans, the browned pancetta and cook for 2 minutes. Add kale; cook 1 minute or until wilted.  Remove from the heat. Stir in the basil.  Serve scallops over the kale mixture.

Pappardelle with Scallops & Pesto

This is one of those great recipes that only uses a couple of store bought ingredients to create an impressive (and easy) main dish.

Pappardelle with Scallops & Pesto (serves 2)

8-10 scallops

8 oz pappardelle pasta (wide ribbons)

a small jar of pesto

salt, pepper, and olive oil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook the pappardelle according to package instructions.  While it's cooking, heat 1/2 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Rinse the scallops and pat dry.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Put scallops in the pan and don't move them for 2 minutes (this helps to develop the crust on the scallop).  Turn them over and cook another 1-2 minutes or until the scallops are barely opaque.  

Drain the noodles and toss with a few tablespoons of the pesto.  Arrange the scallops over the pasta and drizzle with a little more pesto.  Serve immediately.

Green Coconut Curry with Scallops

You know that I love coconut milk and here's another type of coconut recipe - a Thai curry. I've made this probably 5 or 6 times for company this last year and it turns out great every time. The recipe comes together quickly in one pan and I serve it over jasmine rice (tonight, brown jasmine rice). I'll add a couple of photos soon but the header above this post is a picture of the ingredients (minus the scallops). Hope your company likes it as much as mine did!

Green Coconut Curry with Scallops (2 servings)

12 ounces sea scallops
3/4 c. canned unsweetened coconut milk
1-2 tsp. Thai green curry paste (depending on how spicy you want to make it)
1/2 red bell pepper cut into 2 inch strips
Garlic clove
1 T minced peeled fresh ginger
1 T fresh lime juice
1 T soy sauce (or fish sauce)
1/4 c. thinly sliced green onions
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
Hot cooked jasmine rice

Saute bell pepper, ginger, garlic and green curry paste for 3 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and bring it to a boil. Add the scallops, lower the heat a little, and cook until just opaque (time will depend on how large the scallops are). Remove from the heat and add the lime juice, soy sauce, green onions and half of the cilantro. Put the rice in 2 bowls, place scallops on top and divide the sauce in half in each bowl. Sprinkle with the rest of the cilantro.

I think basil might be good instead of the cilantro and if you want it spicier, add some minced jalapeno when you saute the bell pepper, ginger and garlic.

Scallops with White Beans & Spinach

Scallops are super easy to cook and end up looking pretty impressive. What attracted me to this recipe was that my husband loves both sauteed spinach and scallops, it was high in protein (34g/serving), and it pulled together in less than 15 minutes.

If you don't cook scallops regularly, they're done when they are firm to the touch and they are beginning to crack and are opaque. Try not to overcook them - the timing in this recipe worked well for me. For best results with searing, pat them dry with paper towels before cooking and only turn them once.

I bought scallops at Costco for the first time (in the fresh seafood section) and I would buy them there again. I bet this recipe would be good with sauteed jumbo shrimp in place of the scallops. I halved the number of scallops but used the same amount of beans and spinach. The original recipe called for 2T of chopped fresh basil stirred in at the end (off the heat) but the basil I was planning to use was all wilty and moldy - gross.

Scallops with White Beans & Spinach (from Cooking Light 3/09) - 4 servings

2 T olive oil (divided)
1 1/2 lbs scallops
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp. red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. dry white wine
1 c. chicken broth (I used low-sodium fat free)
1 (19 oz) can cannellini beans (or other white beans), rinsed and drained
6 oz fresh baby spinach
1 tsp. dried basil

Heat 1 T of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the scallops with salt. Add them to the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and keep warm.

Add the rest of the oil and the onion to the pan and saute for 2 minutes. Add pepper and garlic and cook for 20 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in wine and cook for 1 minute (most of the liquid will evaporate). Stir in broth, beans, and basil and cook for 2 minutes. Add spinach; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts. Remove from the heat. Serve scallops over the spinach mixture.