Stacey Hawkins, the Queen of Lean and Green Recipes makes Cast Iron Seared Scallops & Lemon Sauce. This low-carb recipe is an Optavia Recipe, Optavia 5 and 1 recipe and complies with most low carb diets. Eat great and lose the weight!
Cast Iron Seared Scallops & Lemon Sauce
Category
Main Dish
Cuisine
American
Servings
4
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Lean and Green recipes and Low Carb recipes need to focus on two things: one meeting your macros, and two, tasting AWESOME!
Now, you can add a ton of flavor with extra salt, extra fat and all those things that can not only throw off your macros, but totally destroy your program, or... you can use a cooking technique that imparts incredible flavor with little work.
Meet the cast iron pan. The thick, heavy pans are absolutely amazing for creating flavorful crusts on food and lend themselves to delicious sauces as a result.
This week's recipe takes advantage of the properties of the good old cast iron pan and makes for a quick, easy and delicious meal that can be served straight up, over your favorite noodle alternative or even cauliflower cous-cous.
Of course, it also makes for a perfect low carb family meal over whole grains or traditional cous-cous as well.
It is important to use dry sea scallops for this recipe to ensure the best crust and flavor. Traditional sea scallops are often injected with a saline solution (yuk!) to help "preserve" them and to make them plumper and heavier so you pay for extra weight (water!). Then when you cook them, it comes all bubbling out and they steam rather than sear. Ask your fishmonger for dry scallops instead. They're so much more flavorful!
Rich, tangy and delicious. You can't go wrong with Cast Iron Seared Scallops! Give this quick recipe a try and let us know how it turns out in the comments below.
Cheers and happy cooking!
Stacey
Ingredients
- 2 pounds dry sea scallops
- 4 T butter, divided
-
1 T (one capful) Stacey Hawkins Garlic & Spring Onion Seasoning (or fresh garlic, onion, salt, pepper and lemon)
- 3/4 C C low sodium chicken, vegetable or fish broth
- 3 T fresh lemon juice
-
pinch Stacey Hawkins Dash of Desperation Seasoning (or salt and pepper)
- fresh parsley, mint and/or lemon zest as garnish if desired
Directions
- Add 1 T of butter to the cast iron pan over high heat.
- While butter is melting, pat the scallops dry.
- Once the butter is melted, add the scallops to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until they are browned. If they stick, they are NOT ready to be flipped. This is where patience is key!
- Remove the scallops from the pan and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium and add the broth, juice and Garlic & Spring Onion Seasoning. Scrape all the brown bits (the fond) off of the bottom of the pan. This is where all the flavor is AND it will make cleaning your pan easier when you're done!
- When the sauce is reduced by 1/3, whisk in the butter, season with Dash of Desperation or Salt and pepper and add the scallops back to the pan just to heat them up. Sprinkle with fresh parsley or fresh mint if desired. Serve hot.
Chef's Notes & More
Serving Size is 7 ounces of scallops drizzled with 2 T of sauce.
0 - Lean
0 - Leaner
1 - Leanest
0 - Green
2 - Condiments
2 - Healthy Fat
