All Things Chill

Seared Scallop with Shiitake Mushrooms and Sea Beans

Larger view here. Liana and I rolled down to the Ballard Sunday Farmer’s Market to get a few things: eggs, a hot dog (lol) and flowers. We came back with so much more. LORDY. LOL.

During this eversosmall sliver of Spring, so many “windows” are open for interesting seasonal produce. Fiddlehead ferns, which I cooked with a few weeks ago probably have about 2 weeks left. Garlic and leek scapes (think a tender asparagus-like part of a young garlic / leek stalk) just hit the market. The first batches of Spring Mix greens are being sold with tender flower petals strewn in. Green garlic (the bulb of young garlic) will be here for a bit too!

We came home with eggs from Skagit River, a piece of carrot cake from “Honey, I’m Home” catering (OMG HUGE SLAB OF CREAM CHEESE), a few pounds of sea beans and garlic and leek scapes. Liana ended up with a beautiful bunch of peonies too!

Today also marked the inaugural opening out MoshiMoshi’s Sunday brunch! We stopped in to say hello and wish them well and we ended up having two bloody marys that the bartender Eric created. Infused with lemongrass, the vodka was deceptively smooth and had FRESH horseradish AND sriracha (lol). Word to the wise, if you try one (and subsequently finish off your gf’s portion), get from your chair SLOWLY. That first step is a doosy. LOL.

On the way back, I was thinking about the sea beans. Their crisp green bean-like crunch with a rush of briney liquid could only be described as an bite from an unripened watermelon with a heavy hand of salt. They’re DELICIOUS and hilarious to see people sample one. Confusion, then a look of savory satisfaction. I had to HAD TO use them in yesterday’s dinner so we walked a few more blocks over to Ballard Market to pick up some BEAUTIFUL scallops.

On with the dish construction:

Shiitake Mushrooms
I cleaned and sliced the fresh shiitake mushrooms in 1/4” match sticks and set aside. I preheated a pan over medium high heat and then added canola oil and preheated that too (important!). I added the mushrooms and let sit for three minutes before tossing in some minced garlic. Once the garlic has been cooking for 2 minutes, I scooped out the contents, placed it in a small ramekin and set aside for plating.

Sea Beans
The sea beans were soaked in water for 20 minutes (in case there was any residual dirt / sand) and then blanched in boiling water for 45 – 60 seconds. They were removed and placed in an ice water bath to cool and then set aside for plating.

Using chopsticks (if you’re able to), pull your sea beans and mushrooms into a tight circle. Layer the mushrooms and sea beans on top of each other to create some “height” in the dish. Like this:

As for the seafood…

Three scallops (1 per person) were CAREFULLY rinsed with water and pat dry (and I mean DRY) with paper towels. I preheated a stainless-steel pan (not nonstick) over medium high heat. Next, I added clarified butter and canola oil to preheat (again, super important that you preheat). Once you see wisps of smoke, CAREFULLY add your scallops. You should instantly hear a SEARING sound. That’s good. Now, don’t touch them for 4 minutes. You should see that golden brown crust creep up the sides of the edges. After 4 minutes, flip and cook for another 2. Scallops as a rule should be served a bit medium rare, with a bit of translucence in the middle. Place on top of the “nest” and garnish with whatever you had – I used our neighbor’s flowering broccoli raab!

With a squeeze of lemon juice on top and a few drops of good quality olive oil, it really screams SPRING! Since that was our appetizer, I ended up making dijon mustard pork chops and the garlic scapes for our main course – but that’s for another post.

Maybe

~Spec

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 7:19 am and is filed under Cooking Culture, Cuisine, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.