Top Chef Audition?

Monday night was one of those nights when I felt the irrepressible urge to cook. Perhaps it was all the Top Chef I've been catching up on recently. Perhaps it was because I receive a strange amount of pleasure from chopping parsley. Perhaps it was because I was hungry. I don't know the exact reason, but I went to the Goose, spent roughly $1,000 on a pound of scallops and various accoutrements, cranked up the tunes in the kitchen and set to work:

Pan-seared Scallops à la MRhé

To start I minced 6 or 7 cloves of garlic and a couple shallots. (Note: I love thinly sliced garlic. I attempted to do this. The key to doing this is using a) a sharp knife, which I lack, and b) peeling the garlic without using the smashing technique, because that breaks up the clove, ruining any possible slices. So what you see is more or less a fine chop (or a rough mince). You might want to do an actual mince. But don't you dare use a garlic press!) I sautéed them in a pan with olive oil and butter. The smell of this is perhaps the most amazing in the world. Olfactory bliss.



I added three medium seeded, diced tomatoes. Cooked those over high heat for a bit then added a cup of white wine, half a lemon's worth of juice and an indecent amount of butter. Brought it to a boil and then simmered uncovered to reduce a bit.



I cut off the hard side muscle from the scallops, then washed, drained, and patted the scallops dry. Seasoned liberally on each side with salt and pepper and then put them in a pan of olive oil and butter on high heat to sear. Make sure that the scallops don't touch - it's hard to tell from this pic but none of these are actually touching. A recipe I read online said to sear for 1-2 min. per side - I ended up cooking these guys for closer to 4-5 per side. I'm not sure if it's because my scallops were gigantic, or because my 1970's-era electric stovetop is horrendous, or because they were swimming in oil instead of just a thin coating, but they needed longer to cook. They came out, dare I say, perfect - i.e. tender. Overcooked seafood is a sin.



I used gemelli pasta for the scallop bed. Cooked al dente, tossed with a little oil, butter and a bit of the sauce, and then served like so:



Go ahead, you can say it.