Made these again last night and they are unbelievable. Anyone else tried them? If you haven't and you like scallops, these could become one of your favorite appetizers.

These were so nice, we had these for dinner. We just added more spinach and made it into a meal. The sweetness of the sauce with the scallops and the spinach was really good. Will definitely make these again.

Try this scallop dish -

Basil Stuffed Jumbo Scallops
Serves 6

6 U-10 scallops, clean, sweet smelling, muscle removed on the side
6 thin slices of fresh plump red tomato
3 tsp fresh basil, thinly sliced
2-3 tsp grated parmesean
Olive oil
Kosher or sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

Favorite hard crusted bread if desired…

Take the scallops, insert a knife in the side, and make a pocket.

Combine basil, a glob of olive oil, and parmesan. Stuff the scallop with about ½ tsp, and a slice of tomato. Season with salt, pepper and a couple drops of olive oil.

In a hot pan, sear scallops until the tops and bottoms are golden, and the scallop is firm, but tender. A couple minutes should do it, but make sure not to over cook it, as the scallop should be opaque, creamy looking, with a firm, and tender texture. Drizzle a little of the pan juices on your stuffed scallop, and enjoy!

This was my first recipe I prepared from Rouxbe video.
Not only was the flavor just perfect,the video helped me NOT over cook the scallops.
Tonight I am trying the cashew chicken.
Enjoy,
Terrell Newberry

I went to Ontario and did a 6 course supper for 17 of my family. This was my second course and what a hit!! I served it with a side of wild mushroom risotto.
In fact most of the meal came from my course at the school or from the Rouxbe web site.

Thanks for making me look so good!

Suzan

Every Christmas our family holds our own little iron chef competition and our team chose as one of it's dishes to be this recipe. As we were cooking for 12 people we decided to change it up a bit and serve the scallops over a bed of spinach. Not only a very attractive dish but the combination of sherry, apple juice and smokey bacon was outstanding. It was a hit!!!

I made these last night as an appetizer for some friends and they were a huge hit!
This is definetely going to become the way I eat scallops from now on. The sherry/bacon vinegrette is deliscious, I think I will use it on a red meat, maybe petit filet.
the plating came out great, everyone was thrilled that these babies tasted as good as they looked!

Yumm! This too was my first attempt at a recipe from rouxbe.com. I am enjoying the site and learning some pretty interesting info here and there. I used almost 1" accross scallops and followed the cooking instructions for the scallops. Who new? I have always over-cooked scallops. Whether you place on the spinach or have a spinach salad on the side it works!

Boy these were wonderful and so eash to do especially when you are told how to clarify the butter. Will do this again Thanks All. Di K

Why did the bottoms of the large sea-scallops get so brown with the butter (whipped)? I fried them 3 minutes/side.

Why did the large sea-scallops turn so brown when I seared them for 3 minutes/side with whipped butter???

Great recipe and I love the fact that the video shows the freshest of ingredients!

Made these tonight and they were delicious. But I will serve them for special occasions only and just for the two of us. I found it was quite a bit of fiddling around, so I wasn't convinced the time to get this on to the plate was well spent. And that is only one course. Maybe I will double the amount next time and make it the whole dinner. Mind you, I did learn some new techniques along the way. I NEVER did find sherry vinegar and I tried several shops.

We made this dish around Christmas while snowed in and omitted the bacon. It was amazing! And instead of the spinach we served it with the mushroom risotto and steamed baby bok choy. Overall, a great dinner that we will make again for guests. Very visually appealing!

When I added the clarified butter to the hot pan it splattered a LOT and the butter quickly turned brown after I started cooking the scallops.

Did I not clarify the butter correctly or was the pan just too hot?

Thanks-

The first time I tried this, I soaked the scallops in water to try to get rid of the sand. BIG MISTAKE!! When I went to pan-sear the scallops, the pan filled with water. I had to empty it twice, and by that time, the recipe was shot. Could not get that golden seared look on the scallops to save my life. However, the next week, I did it differently. I just rinsed the scallops and then patted them dry several times before searing. This time it looked like your video and they were excellent. What a dish!
Thanks, Dennis K

My guess is the pan was too hot. The milk solids that settle out when clarifying butter are the element that splatters. You certainly can brown clarified butter (usually intentionally) but it takes either extra time or extra heat.

Tom is right, milk solids will splatter, but properly clarified butter should have removed the milk solids. Your problem was that you likely didn't pat your scallops dry and the water was your culprit (as you diagnosed). Thoroughly pat your scallops dry.

And while you can start your scallops on high heat for that nice golden crust, you will likely need to adjust the heat down so that the clarified butter does not burn (which it will over higher heat and extended cooking). So watch the color of the butter and smoke along with the sizzling sounds. These are you cues to picking the right heat for your burner, pan and the amount of scallops you are cooking.

I made this recipe but took some time to brown the scallops, sometimes when I buy scallops in the grocery store they are a very white color meaning they have been bleached to look good and will have more water content, this makes it hard to brown as the pan stays wet, any suggestions on how to get all the water out, sometimes the paper towel doesn't get do it well enough

Hi Carolyn.. first of all, I've not heard of bleaching scallops... Has anyone else out there? I've hauled scallops right out of the sea, shucked and eaten them and the variety I experienced were nice and white. Others might not be (not an expert here).

As for drying, if you have really wet scallops, try patting dry and then leaving them on paper towel or a rack in the fridge over night - turning every so often. Fridge drying works wonders. We do it with our chickens after brining and steaks to dry out the skin for great crusts or crispy skin.

The only other thing you need to perfect is to recognize correct pan heat and how to control the temperature. Watch the video a few times and memorize the cooking sounds and volume of the sizzle. What is the clarified butter doing and then replicate the action and sound. You can do it!

Keep me posted.

I had my in-laws over for dinner, I made this scallop appitizer as the first course. This was my first time making scallops!!!
I suprised them with my "skills", got lot of complements.
I seared the scallops perfectly, the whole dish was perfect after watching the video three times :).
I will definitelly make it again!
Krisztina

It looks like you are using a non-stick pan in the video. Can you still get a nice seared crust on the scallops like you do with a stainless skillet?

Definitely you would get just as good of a sear on stainless steel. Just make sure you preheat the pan properly so the scallops do not stick.

Here is a Drill-down about preheating a stainless steel pan - http://rouxbe.com/drilldowns/363

Thanks Dawn. I have always used stainless in the past when cooking scallops. Next time I will try a non-stick skillet. Is it ok to use non-stick on high heat?

Thanks

No problemo Ted, don't worry about using stainless steel, people (including myself in the past) use non-stick mostly because they have been taught that it is the only way for things not to stick; however if properly heated a stainless steel pan is generally just as non-stick.

Also, with non-stick it is not recommended that they are heated past about medium to medium high heat.