Seared Scallops in Sweet Smoked Paprika & Orange Sauce

I love scallops. Having a seafood-heavy meal plan isn't bad when you can eat yummy bivalves almost to your heart's content.

Add in some paprika and oranges (I can eat fruits too!), and what's not to like? And the fact that it cooks up in a total of 5 minutes? Quite fabulous.

The original recipe calls for blood oranges. But my blood oranges were sacrificed to my morning breakfast shake, so I had to rely on normal orange oranges. They worked well.

I cannot eat yummy things like butter, so I left it out. I didn't feel like it was missing anything.

I also completely ignored the list of suggested spices. Despite being Mexican, I don't really care for cumin. It's too smoky for me, and since I was using sweet smoked paprika, why take away from that? Instead, I used a blend courtesy of our favorite Tuscan restaurant Rosti made up of sage, sea salt, black pepper, garlic, and rosemary. And added turmeric. Because it fights cancer and turns everything yellow.

(Seriously, everything. It has to be washed off immediately or things become permanently neon yellow. I think that's how it kills cancer, by yellowizing it to death!)

6 medium sea scallops are about enough for a single serving. Add some veggies and you have a full meal.

I ate this standing up in the kitchen, straight out of the pan. The smell while it was cooking was that intoxicating, it was hard to wait! And since it scales so easily, this is going to be one of those dishes that can be whip up for unexpected company (use a pound of scallops for 4 people and a full cup of juice) or after a long day at the office.

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Seared Scallops in Smoked Paprika & Orange Sauce
Adapted from Whole Foods Recipes

Ingredients

3 ounces blood orange juice (yield from 2 medium oranges, use regular oranges if blood oranges are unavailable)6 medium or 4 large wild frozen scallops, thawed 1 teaspoon Rosti Tuscan Kitchen spice mix (or any spice mix you like)1 teaspoon turmeric1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika, divided 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil Salt & pepper to taste (if your spice mix doesn't include them)

Instructions

1. Heat orange juice in a medium saucepan over low heat. Simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Rinse scallops and pat completely dry. Mix half the sweet smoked paprika and rest of the spices together and dredge the scallops so they are completely covered.

3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until smoking. Add oil to skillet and sear scallops, about 1 to 2 minutes per side, until they develop a golden-brown crust and are just cooked through. Be very careful not to overcook and create inedible rubber.

4. While scallops are searing, whisk the remaining sweet smoked paprika into the warm reduced orange juice. Enjoy the aroma.

5. Place the scallops on a plate and spoon the sauce over them. Serve immediately. Cold scallops aren't quite as delicious.

Yield: 1 serving

Caramelized Scallops on a Wonton Tostada

Today's dinner was courtesy of Food Gal's Thomas Keller "Ad Hoc at Home" preview, with some inspiration drawn from Brian Boitano's scallops with mango and avocado. Who knew Brian Boitano cooked, right?

I had no idea scallops could be caramelized. I'm always afraid of overcooking them. That happened to me once in a teppanyaki restaurant and it was so very disappointing. Rubber seafood is about as bad as it comes. Worse than rubber chicken.

Reading through Food Gal's comments I found that the original recipe of 10 total of water cups and the cup of salt could be halved, especially since I was only making a small test batch just for me. I pretty much followed the directions exactly, except for using table salt (at a ratio of 2/3 cup of table salt = 1 cup kosher salt) and only having the 4 scallops instead of a pound. I also cooked them in a cast iron skillet. They came out perfectly.

It's important to note that if you attempt this dish, you should definitely read Food Gal's post first. She does a great job explaining the entire recipe.

As for the mango/avocado/wonton piece of the puzzle, I upped the Mexican factor on this. Hence the "tostada" part of the title. Brian's recipe was a great start, but I didn't want to use coconut milk. It's super fatty and I wanted something a bit more savory. In keeping with the Mexican theme, I opted for Mexican crema, which is similar to sour cream, but more liquid-like. And instead of the recommended Sriracha, I subbed in adobo sauce. Adobo (not the brand name salt & pepper mix I also used) is the sauce that canned chipotles live in. Depending on your heat tolerance, a little goes a long way. (Both Adobo and canned chipotle are available in Hispanic markets.)

This was also my first time making clarified butter for the sear. It's readily available in southeast Asian stores, but it's so simple to make, and I only needed a small amount, that I tried my hand at it. For details on how to make it, see the Asia Recipe website.

Finally, I didn't see the point in cutting the wonton wrappers into circles, so I simply fried them as squares. Yes tostadas are circular, but that's just an unnecessary step.

The sear on the scallops was unreal. And they were perfectly cooked, no rubber!

The combined recipe below was scaled down for a single serving.

Caramelized Scallops with Mango Avocado Relish over a Wonton Tostada

1/3 cup table, plus more to taste
2 cups hot water
4 cups cold water
4 jumbo scallops, tough side muscle removed from each one
About 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) clarified butter
1/2 lemon (optional)
2 cups canola oil
4 wonton wrappers
Adobo salt & pepper mix, as needed
1/4 mango, small diced
1/4 avocado, small diced
2 tablespoons crema (Mexican sour cream)
1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce (aka chipotle sauce)
1/2 lime, juiced

1. Line a small baking sheet with paper towels. Combine the 1/3 cup salt with hot water in a large bowl, stirring to dissolve the salt. Add the cold water.

2. Add scallops to the brine and let stand for 10 minutes.

3. Drain the scallops, rinse under cold water, and arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet. Cover with more paper towels and refrigerate for 1 1/2 to 3 hours (no longer, or the quality of the scallops will be affected).

4. While scallops are resting in the fridge, work on the relish and tostadas. In a medium pot, bring 2 cups canola oil to 350 degrees F. Fry the wontons in small batches until they are brown and crispy, about 2 minutes. Drain on a plate lined with a paper towel and season each with a bit of salt.

5. In a medium bowl, combine the diced mango and avocado. In another smaller bowl, whisk together the crema, hot sauce, and lime juice, and adjust the seasoning with the salt and black pepper mix, to taste. Pour half of the creamy mixture over the mango and avocado and gently toss to coat.

6. After the 1 1/2 to 3 hour rest period, heat a generous film of clarified butter in a large cast iron frying pan over medium-high heat until it ripples and begins to smoke. Sprinkle scallops lightly with salt and add them to the pan. Cook, without moving the scallops, until bottoms are a rich golden brown, 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Turn scallops and caramelize the second side.

7. To assemble, put 1 tablespoon of the mango and avocado mixture onto a fried wonton. Top with a caramelized scallop and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice (optional) and a drizzle of the crema sauce.

This looked like a LOT of food on the plate. But when I was done, I wanted more. I don't know if it was just too little food, or it was so good it left me wanting more. I'm going with the latter.