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GINGER SCALLOPS

Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes
by Sam Zien
I can remember the day I figured out how not to turn scallops into hockey pucks. Once you get it, you'll want to make them all the time. The key is simple: a lot of heat and very little cooking. Just think of this: you can eat them raw, so why cook them for three hours in a pan?
Makes 4 servings of 3 scallops each, or 3 servings of 4 each, or 2 servings of 6 each, or... you get the idea
 

Ingredients
• 12 large sea scallops, about 1 pound
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1½ tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1½ tablespoons finely chopped green onions (scallions), white and light green parts only
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
 

Directions

Dry the scallops by laying them out on a paper towel and setting them aside while you deal with the other ingredients.

Mix together the butter, ginger, and green onions well in a small bowl and set aside.

Preheat a nonstick skillet over high heat for a couple of minutes. (If it starts to smoke, just pull it off for 15 to 20 seconds.) Then add 1/2 tablespoon of the oil. It will probably start smoking—that's okay Just add half the scallops and sear until nicely browned, about 2 minutes.

Tip: If you cook too many scallops at a time, they'll steam instead of sear, and that's bad.
Turn them and sear the second side until they're just about ready to come off the heat, about another 2 minutes. Add half of the ginger-butter to the skillet and make sure the scallops get well coated by turning them.

Remove to serving plates, drizzle with any of the remaining pan butter, and serve.

Repeat with the remaining scallops.