Caramelized Bay Scallops with Clementines, Capers & Cauliflower Puree
I know, i’ve been a bad bad blogger and i surely deserve a good spanking for my lack of posting lately but i couldn’t get myself excited enough to blog about Thanksgiving. I did cook for a bunch of people though, 25 to be exact, but it wasn’t anything so unique that you had to see it. So i skipped it altogether and you didn’t notice. At least you can pretend you didn’t, right?
- 1 head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
- Salt and freshlt ground pepper
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 dozen bay scallops, cleaned
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 4 clementines, peeled and segmented
- Julienned zest of 4 kumquats
- 3 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley
Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain well. Put the cauliflower into a food processor and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, add 3 tablespoons of butter and process for 10 more seconds. Keep warm.
Warm the remaining butter and the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over high heat. Season the scallops and slip them into the pan. Cook until they are golden and start to caramelize on the edges, 4 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mount some cauliflower puree in the center of four warm plates and equally divide the bay scallops on top.
Deglaze the pan with the lemon juice. Add the clementines, kumquat zest, capers and parsley to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook until heated through.