Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the photo. Gosh she is pretty. Some of my dishes photo really well; and then there is this pasta. This dish steals all the thunder of any of my other posts (well maybe bacon looks better, but you get the point). Rarely do I get a photo that demonstrates how truly wonderful my food taste, well that up in till now. This is one of those moments, let’s just stop and take in the beauty of this pasta. The colors and textures are so vivid; I bet you could almost smell it. . . Can’t you?
This recipe does not need to be made with both scallops and shrimp, it does not need to be made with jumbo sized shrimp and large scallops. The cooking time just needs to be adjusted depending on the size of the seafood you choose. So if all you have is shrimp, use shrimp. Use what you have.
A few key things to keep in mind, if you choose to use scallops, make sure they are dried completely before putting them in the pan. The same goes for the shrimp, but I am more diligent about it when it comes to scallops. Wet scallops will equal no crust. Every loves crust right? Something else to keep in mind is you really need to have everything prepped before you start cooking. You totally need to get your Mes en plas on. This dish cooks fast, so basically it takes 8 minutes for the pasta too cook. This dish takes about 10 minute’s grand total to make. So make sure the pasta water is boiling before you start the seafood.
Ingredients:
- 2 small yellow onions, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 3 Roma tomatoes, seeded, and diced
- 4 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade at the last minute right before serving
- ¼ lemon, juiced
- 3/4 cup white wine
- 11 ounces spaghetti noodles
- ½ lb large shrimp, cleaned, tail on
- 2-3 scallops per person
- kosher salt
- freshly grated black pepper
- olive oil
Please note photo was taken after I seared the scallops and shrimp.
Method:
Bring a large pot of water to boil to cook the pasta. Wait for the water to boil, heat a large sauce pan over medium high heat. You need to make sure that sauce pan is hot before you start searing the scallops.
Add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil in the sauce pan. Sprinkle the tops of the dried scallops with kosher salt and pepper. Place the scallops’ salt and pepper side down in the sauce pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the other side of the scallops. The trick to scallops is not to overcook them. I did mine just under 2 minutes per side. So after about a minute and a half use a nice spatula and flip the scallops. Try not to lose the pretty crust that has built up on the scallop. That’s the tasty part! Right after you flip the scallops add the spaghetti to the boiling water and set your timer. After the scallops are done remove them from the sauce pan, loosely tent them.
Keep the sauce pan on, add more olive oil if it is needed and do the same process with the shrimp. They need to be dried, salt and peppered and cooked for about a minute a side. After they are done place them on a plate and tent.
Working quickly add a splash of olive oil to the pan and sauté the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Sprinkle them with a little kosher salt to help them cook down faster. Once there is less than 4 minutes left on the spaghetti add the diced tomatoes to the pan. Add the wine and reduce down by half. At this point the spaghetti should be done, drain it and toss it in the tomato sauce. Squeeze the fresh lemon juice over the pasta, and add two basil leaves that have been cut chiffonade style.
Plate the pasta and then add the scallops and shrimp on top and garnish with the fresh basil. Sit back and enjoy with some wine. . . trust me you will love this recipe.
Serves 4
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