This week I thought I would try to expand my culinary boundaries a little bit by cooking something that I’m not really fond of.  If you’ve ever seen me in person, it doesn’t look like there is much that I don’t like, but trust me I can be kind of picky.  That being said, I have never been a big fan of scallops.  I always thought they were a bit to fishy tasting and never really understood what all the big fuss was about. And up until last weekend I had no intention of eating, let alone cooking, scallops.  

Cooking Scallops on the Disc-It Flat Top Griddle

It all started when a fancy salad restaurant, Vinaigrette, opened a few months ago.  Cheryl and her sister, Trissi, ate there and it immediately became their new favorite restaurant.   I think their summer bucket list was to eat every salad on the menu.  I have been there myself and it is very good, but it’s just salad.  Anyway, one of the protein choices for your $20 salad is scallops. Of course Cheryl and Trissi ate the scallops have not shut up about them since.  It wasn’t enough to listen to their endless dribble,  they started nagging me cook up some scallops for Sunday dinner. I don’t do scallops, I’m a meat guy, I cook primal cuts of beef and pork, not dainty little shellfish.  Yada yada yada….Sunday I was cooking scallops for dinner.

 

Scallops with olive oil seasoned with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.

To be honest, I was actaully scared to cook scallops.  For years I’ve heard that scallops are so delicate and difficult to cook. I’ve also seen many a chef on Chopped meet their doom by over cooking their scallops, which is appearently an unpardonable sin in the culinary world.  So all last week I was researching the proper techinques for cooking scallops. I read articles, consulted my cookbooks and even watched old episodes of Bobby Flay’s BBQ Addiction I have stored on my DVR.  I was not going to let a little mollusk kick my butt.

 

Cooking Scallops

Sunday arrives and I’m ready to cook these scallops.  I purchased a bag of flash frozen raw scallops from Costco and defrosted them. (Fresh seafood is hard to come by in NM) Once they were defrosted, I coated them with olive oil and seasoned them with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.  To cook these delicate morsels of the sea I decided to use my Disc-It with the flat top griddle.  I heated up the griddle to 450º or med-high heat and cooked the scallops for 2-3 minutes on each side and that was it.  They came about perfect, golden brown crust on each side and were perfectly tender.  

 

Salad with Scallops.

The succulent scallops were then placed on top of Cheryl’s salad with a homemade lemon dill vinaigrette dressing, which was accompanied by a loaf of Trissi’s rustic bread.  Yah, this how we roll on Sunday nights at our house. After all that work, I am a fan of the scallop now.  Next time they will be getting a dusting of AlbuKirky Seasonings, I’m just not sure which one.