Food & Wine.com Recipe of the Week - Seared Scallops with Pinot Gris Butter Sauce

A new feature that I am going to try to incorporate into our blog is a “Recipe of the Week,” that I will choose from Food & Wine.com. If you have never visited Food & Wine, it is definitely worth a look, and they have many great recipes listed, many of which we have tried.  It is my goal to get these recipes posted by 7:30PM on Sunday evening, but we'll see if I can actually keep up with this.  I think that I can!

Being a beautiful 75 degree spring day in New Jersey, I wanted to go with a dish, or at least a main ingredient that reminded me of summer.  So for the first entry to this continuing trend, why not go with something near and dear to myheart during the summer month, scallops!  This week’s Recipe of the Week is the Seared Scallops with Pinot Gris Butter Sauce, by Hugh Acheson, and is cut and pasted below!

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons pine nuts
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium shallots, minced
2 cups Pinot Gris (I will be the first to say that I am not a big pinot gris or pinot grigio fan, so feel free to substitute one of your favorite other white varietals.)
2 thyme sprigs
1 cup fish stock
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
1 tablespoon minced chives
Salt and ground pepper
1 packed cup baby spinach
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
16 large sea scallops
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a skillet, toast the pine nuts over moderate heat until golden, 2 minutes; transfer to a plate and let cool. Lightly crush the nuts.

2. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil. Add the shallots and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until browned, 4 minutes. Add the wine and thyme; boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, 15 minutes. Add the stock and boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, 9 minutes longer. Add the cream, bring to a boil and remove from the heat.

3. Strain the wine sauce into a clean saucepan. Whisk in the butter, 4 pieces at a time, until the sauce is thickened and smooth; set the pan over low heat as necessary to help melt the butter. Stir in the chives and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

4. In a medium bowl, toss the spinach with the lemon juice and the remaining olive oil; season with salt and pepper.

5. In the skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Season the scallops with salt and pepper, add to the skillet and cook over high heat, turning once, until browned but barely cooked through, 2 minutes per side. Transfer the scallops and spinach to plates. Garnish with the pine nuts and pepper flakes. Gently reheat the sauce, spoon on top and serve.