I’ve only prepared bay scallops once before (at least in modern, Food Blog times). They were okay, but the experience wasn’t good enough to encourage me to try it again. When I saw some in the Greenmarket yesterday I decided I’d give them another try. I was going to go for a treatment somewhat more simple than what I ended up doing, but this time they were terrific.

I swear I’ll do almost nothing to them the next time, and see how that works out.

I chose a simple recipe for a sympathetic and a favorite winter vegetable as a complement, and that worked out very well too.

 

 

• one tablespoon of oil and a half tablespoon of butter heated in a large enameled cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, one medium-size sliced clove of Keith’s Farm Rocambole garlic slipped in and cooked, stirring occasionally, until it was pale golden, after which 26 washed and thoroughly-dried Peconic bay scallops from Blue Moon Fish in the Union Square Greenmarket (on, sadly, what Stephanie and ALex Villani had announced would be their their last day – ever – in the the Union Square Greenmarket location) were added and quickly sautéed without moving, until seared (about 30 seconds), then flipped and seared on the other side (tough to do quickly and completely, no matter how handy the cook may be) for about 30 seconds more, the scallops then removed from the pan and placed on warm plates while the flame was reduced to medium and about 1 1/2 tablespoons more butter added, the butter allowed to turn a light brown color (pans with black surfaces, like the one I used this time, make this difficult to determine), the heat turned off and about a tablespoon of Whole Foods Market organic lemon juice and chopped parsley from S. & S.O. Produce added and pushed around for a few seconds before the sauce was seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and poured over the scallops on the plates, which were garnished with a ‘dusting’ of micro wasabi from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• one small Savoy-type San Michele (formerly, Verza di Verona) cabbage from Tamarack Hollow Farm, halved, the core removed, sliced fairly thinly, sautéed, along with thin strips of one very small leek from Willow Wisp Organic Farm, in a little olive oil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage leaves were tender, had begun to brown and become (ideally) slightly crisp at the edges, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and 4 flattened juniper berries, a few drops of white balsamic vinegar added, then stirred over heat for a moment and arranged on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
• The wine was a California (grapes from the Sacramento River Delta with a small amount of Viognier from Lodi) white, Miriam Alexandra Chenin Blanc California 2016, by Alexandra Farber, from Naked Wines
• the music was a terrific album of goodies, ‘Schubert Epilog‘, in which the contemporary composers Kurt Schwertsik, Aribert Reimann, Hans Werner Henze, Luciano Berio, and Hans Zender reimagine some of Schubert’s most iconic works, the performances all with Jonathan Nott directing the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony Chorus