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.

What's for dinner? Scallops with Potato Pancakes and Caviar Sauce

Tonight I opted to make a recipe that I saw last week on Food and Wine Magazine's website. I will write more about it when I get a chance, but feel free to check out the link above for the recipe, or see the recipe cut and pasted below. More to come! Cheers!

Ingredients PANCAKES 1 pound baking potatoes, peeled 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1/4 cup matzo meal 1/4 cup grated onion Salt Vegetable oil, for frying SCALLOPS AND CAVIAR SAUCE 1 1/2 cups Champagne 9 black peppercorns 3 thyme sprigs 1 bay leaf 1 large shallot, thinly sliced 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons crème fraîche 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons 1 ounce caviar Salt Vegetable oil, for frying 20 medium sea scallops (1 pound) 2 tablespoons minced chives

Directions Make the Pancakes: Coarsely shred the potatoes and squeeze out any excess liquid. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the egg, matzo meal, onion and a large pinch of salt. Shape the mixture into 20 scallop-size cakes, about 1/2 inch thick; press the cakes to compress them.

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil until shimmering. Working in batches, fry the pancakes over moderately high heat until browned and crisp, about 3 minutes per side. Lower the heat if the pancakes brown too quickly and add more oil if necessary. Transfer the pancakes to a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

Prepare the Scallops and Caviar Sauce: Preheat the oven to 325°. In a small saucepan, combine the Champagne with the peppercorns, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, shallot and lemon juice and boil over high heat until reduced to 1 tablespoon, about 15 minutes. Strain the sauce into another small saucepan. Stir in the crème fraîche and bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the softened butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir in the caviar and season lightly with salt. Cover the sauce and keep it warm.

Wipe out the skillet and heat 1/4 inch of oil in it until shimmering. Season the scallops with salt and add half of them to the skillet. Cook over high heat until richly browned, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm while you cook the remaining scallops. Rewarm the potato pancakes in the oven. Arrange the pancakes on a platter and set a scallop on each one. Add the chives to the caviar butter sauce and spoon over the scallops. Serve right away.

Make Ahead: The pancakes and caviar sauce can stand at room temperature for up to 2 hours. Rewarm the caviar sauce over low heat, stirring constantly.