Recipe: Red-Chile Crusted Sea Scallops
the Ex and I always stop at the bookstore on our way to the theater and yesterday was no exception. We had about 20 minutes to kill before the movie started so we headed to Borders and I picked up a new cookbook: Best of the Best – the best recipes from the 25 best cookbooks of the year. As we sat and waited for the movie to start, we scanned the recipes and came across a recipe for Red-Chile Crusted Sea Scallops by Bobby Flay. Never having prepared scallops before, I was amazed at how easy the recipe was. So after the movie, we stopped by the market and picked up everything we needed to test the recipe out.
Sea Scallops
Ingredients:
12 large sea scallops (1 pound)
2 tablespoons ground ancho chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
salt & pepper to taste
Ancho Chile Powder & Cumin
Directions:
In a small bowl or plate, mix the chile powder and cumin. Season the scallops with salt and pepper. Dredge one side of each scallop in the chile mixture.
Dredge one side of the scallops
Cooking the Scallops
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the scallops, chile side down, and cook over moderately high heat until a crust forms, about 2 minutes. Turn the scallops over and cook about 3 minutes longer until just cooked through. Transfer to a plate for serving.
Finished Scallops
Who knew that cooking scallops was this easy? Now that I’ve done it once, I’m sure to do it again with a few recipe revisions. While the red-chile crust was great, I think the next time around I’ll add a bit of garlic and maybe test it out with some New Mexico chile powder – or even some chipotle. We actually cooked more scallops then we could eat in one sitting, so we’ll be using the leftovers over the top of some pasta or in a few salads over the next few days.
