This was a great date night treat for me & my wife. Light, fresh & delicious.
Pan-Seared Scallops with Parmesan Risotto & Lemon Brown Butter
Ingredients
For the Risotto
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 small shallot, finely minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)
3 ½ cups chicken or vegetable stock, kept warm on low heat
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp mascarpone or heavy cream (optional, for extra silkiness)
Salt & black pepper, to taste
For the Scallops
10–12 large sea scallops (dry-packed if possible)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Salt & pepper
For the Herb Brown Butter
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Zest + juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 sprig rosemary)
Garnish
Fresh parsley or chives, finely chopped
Extra Lemon
Instructions
In a saucepan, warm the stock and keep it gently simmering.
In a heavy skillet or wide saucepan, melt butter with olive oil. Sauté shallot until translucent (2–3 min), then add garlic.
Stir in Arborio rice and toast 1–2 minutes until edges look translucent.
Deglaze with wine, stirring until absorbed.
Add warm stock, ½ cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting liquid absorb before adding more. Continue until rice is al dente and creamy (about 18–20 min).
Stir in Parmesan and mascarpone/cream. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm.
Pat scallops very dry with paper towels. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Heat olive oil in a cast iron or stainless skillet over medium-high until shimmering.
Place scallops in pan (don’t crowd). Sear undisturbed 1 ½–2 minutes per side until golden crust forms. Add butter during last minute, basting scallops. Remove and keep warm.
In a small pan, melt butter over medium heat until golden brown and nutty (2–3 min).
Stir in lemon juice, zest, and thyme. Remove from heat immediately.
Spoon risotto into center of warm plates.
Arrange scallops on top (5–6 per plate).
Drizzle lemon brown butter over scallops and risotto.
Garnish with herbs
Welcome to date night. We’re doing scallops with an herb brown butter and a snap pee risoto. Let’s get everything cut and ready. Get our shallot ready for our risoto. And risoto is not that hard. It takes a little patience. I’m going to show you how to do it, but it is not as hard as you might think. And it tastes delicious. Just get everything cut ahead of time cuz once it starts moving, it’s going to require your attention. That’s some parsley for our garnish. Just chop it up real fine. You want to make sure your broth is warm. You can’t use cold broth. So, we’re using olive oil and butter uh for the risoto. Going to put our shallots in. We’re going to put our garlic in and we’re going to just stir that around. Get it nice and translucent before we add the aoreo rice. That is the risoto. Sprinkle it in there. Let it brown first before you add any of the wine or the broth. Delaze that with a little of that wine. Put the snap peas right in there. Give it a stir. Now you’re just going to slowly stir in some liquid as you need it. Pepper and salt go in there and just let it bubble away. Just let it do its thing. We’re going to put some Parmesan cheese. Give it a little cheesiness and earthiness. And then these are our scallops. We’re going to pan sear these in our cast iron. Get that pan ripping hot. Here’s what you’re looking for. You want that crust on one side. I cook these on one side. I don’t cook them on the other. You don’t want to get these overdone. They’ll be rubbery. Let’s put our risoto down. We’re going to put our scallops right on top of that. Make it look pretty. This is date night. Come on. And then we’ve got our herb brown butter that’s going to drizzle right over top of that. That’s just melted butter with some thyme and rosemary. Sprinkle it with that parsley. Clean up the plate. This is a special occasion. Make sure it looks nice. Put your lemon on the side. You’re going to squeeze that over. Look at this. Delicious seared scallops with that herb brown butter and a snap pee risoto. and promises. [Music]
Dining and Cooking