Mother’s Day: Quick-Braised Scallops in Tomato Sauce
3 Jun
For Mother’s Day, I was off on a trip to Montreal. Whoops! But as soon as I got back, I headed straight to my parents’ place and made Mom dinner. It had to be fast, and it had to be special, so I pulled some tomato sauce out of the freezer and went to the Greenmarket to get some super fresh scallops from Blue Moon.
This recipe is a variation on Quick-Braised Fish Filets in Tomato Sauce. It’s great over pasta. Throw in a salad, you’ve got a special home cooked meal that doesn’t take much time to prepare. You lightly dredge the scallops in flour, brown them quickly on each side over high heat.
Remove them from the pan and throw in some garlic and onions, then some white wine, then tomatoes (canned works well here). Or, you could do what I did, which is just dump in some pre-made tomato sauce. You could probably even get away with using a jar, though it’s not much easier than just adding a can of crushed tomatoes. Once the sauce is hot, lower the heat a bit, return the scallops to the pan until just done (do NOT overcook them!). I garnished with green garlic, which is great if it’s in season and you can find it. Otherwise, some parsley or scallion does the trick. That’s it. Spoon some scallops and sauce over a bowl of pasta, and you have something super classy that took almost no time to make.
It was Mom’s birthday yesterday, so I guess I better start planning another special dinner…
