Sea Scallops With Almond Sauce Recipes

Steps:

• Heat 4 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes; set brown butter aside and let cool for 5 minutes.
• In a medium saucepan, bring fish stock and vinegar to a boil over medium heat; cook until liquid is reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Reduce heat to low. Slowly whisk in remaining 8 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in cooled brown butter until completely emulsified. Stir in capers, almonds, parsley, and 3/4 teaspoon salt; season with pepper. Set sauce aside and keep warm.
• Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Add scallops to skillet and cook until a light-brown crust forms, about 2 minutes. Turn scallops and continue to cook until cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Divide scallops evenly between serving plates; spoon sauce over scallops and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Cut 2 tablespoons of the butter into pea-sized pieces, put it on a small plate, and stick it in the freezer. Heat a large skillet over medium-heat high for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the olive oil and wait for the butter to melt.
• Pat the scallops dry with paper towels, add them to the pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper; work in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the skillet. Cook, turning once, until they are well browned on both sides but not quite cooked through, 2 minutes per side (less if the scallops are under 1 inch across; more if they're over). Transfer the scallops to a plate.
• Stir in the garlic, lemon juice, and wine and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the skillet with a spatula. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the liquid in the skillet thickens, a minute or two, then whisk in the butter you chilled in the freezer, one bit at a time, to make a creamy sauce, adding another tablespoon or two of liquid if necessary.
• Return the scallops to the skillet and add the chives. Adjust the heat so the sauce bubbles gently and toss to coat the scallops with the sauce. To serve, transfer the scallops to a platter and spoon the sauce over all.
• Variation:
• Seared Scallops With Cherry Tomatoes and Basil: Skip the lemon juice. Cut 1 pint cherry tomatoes in half. Add the tomatoes with the garlic and wine and cook until they wrinkle a bit and release their juice, 2 or 3 minutes. Use chopped fresh basil leaves instead of chives.
• Cooks' Notes
• Releasing From The Pan: The scallops will offer no resistance when they're ready to turn. Press down gently while the scallops cook to encourage full contact with the pan, then listen for a hiss: That's moisture heating and evaporating.
• Getting A Good Sear: The idea is to brown the scallops well on both sides without overcooking them, so keep the heat as high as you can without creating too much smoke.
• Building Sauce With Butter: After you add the liquid and deglaze the pan, the addition of butter develops fantastic creaminess and richness.
• Finishing The Dish: As soon as the scallops are cooked through completely and coated with the sauce, remove the pan from the heat; they will continue to cook. Nick-and-peek into one if you need to check for doneness.

Steps:

• Combine oil and half the butter in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, and turn heat to medium-high. Sprinkle scallops with salt and cayenne. When butter foam subsides, add scallops to pan, one at a time (or all at once if you're using bay scallops), and turn heat to high. Cook about 2 minutes, or until one side browns, then turn and brown other side for a minute or two longer. (If you like scallops more well done, cook a couple of minutes more.)
• Remove scallops to a plate, and keep warm. Add nuts to skillet over high heat, and cook, stirring, a minute or two, until dark brown. Add wine, and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced to a syrup, about 5 minutes. Add remaining butter; when sauce has thickened, pour over scallops. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Steps:

• Cook onion in butter in a heavy medium skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add brandy and cook until evaporated. Stir in cream, almonds, parsley, and Worcestershire sauce and simmer 1 minute.
• Lightly season scallops with sea salt and add to sauce. Simmer gently just until sauce is thickened and scallops are cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately in ramekins.

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic, and cook for a few seconds until fragrant. Add scallops, and cook for several minutes on one side, then turn over, and continue cooking until firm and opaque.
• Remove scallops to a platter, then whisk salt, pepper, and lemon juice into butter. Pour sauce over scallops to serve.