Seared Scallops and Broiled Asparagus

Tonight I am taking a page out of Judith Jones' book and cooking a nice meal for myself. Just me. I finally braved the cold and walked to the store to pick out the biggest, juiciest scallops I could find, stocked up on butter, and something green. I even bought a bottle of the cheapest white wine they had. There's a reason it's $5.99, folks. That crap is crap. But I was only cooking with it so who cares?

My favorite way to cook asparagus is broiling it with some oil & vinegar. It's perfect.  I may have told you before, but I use this balsamic vinegar:



If you haven't tried it, it's so worth the splurge. I promise you, you have never tasted anything better. Sometimes I'll just eat it on some pecorino or parmesan-- it's like dessert.  I added a drizzle or three or four of that, some olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.



For the scallops, I start by patting them dry. I heard somewhere that this allows them to brown easier. Where did I hear that? Julia Child?



So I pat them dry and melt some butter in the saucepan. About 1 1/2 T butter. Then I added some of my crappy white wine, and a squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice. I let that cook down a bit while I broil the asparagus, about 5 minutes.





Then sear the scallops. About 3-5 minutes on each side should do it. Mine look kind of blackened because my butter might have burned a little. My bad. Once the liquid cooks down, you may want to lower the heat a little to avoid burning. Honestly though, as long as you don't over-cook them, it's really hard to mess up sea scallops.

Everything is done in less than 15 minutes, which is my kind of meal. And it's delicious.





And for dessert, I had these:

Raspberry + Chocolate= best friends forever

Couple of questions for you tonight: Do you eat asparagus with a fork, or with your hands? Have you ever cooked scallops? If so, do you have any tips for us? The other question has been added to the sidebar as a survey. Vote on your favorite food-related movie. Fun, huh? We'll try to come up with a new one every week or so.