Seared Scallops

Of the two of us, Melissa is the cook. I fully admit that I hardly EVER venture into the kitchen. It is not so much that I cannot cook as much as it is that I have the attention span of a gnat...Lol. I can't stay focused long enough to make a shopping list and once I am in the grocery store I can't stay focused long enough to get all the items on the list before I am ready to leave. On the other hand, when it comes to food, I know what I like (if you had not already noticed ;). This means that I have many more cookbooks than one person who hardly ever cooks should have.  The running joke around my house is that once every year or two, I pull one of them off the bookshelf, dust it off, and prepare a 4-course, gourmet meal, which everyone enjoys and then resign themselves to not seeing this phenomenon again anytime soon. So this time around, I decided it was my turn to come up with a recipe for our Tuesday night meal and do the shopping. I settled on a receipe I have had my eye on for quite a while now from my Perfect Spanish Cookbook, Seared Scallops. Let me tell you something, this recipe is SO going into my repertoire. It is simple to shop for, simple to make, and simply amazing.

To recreate this dish, you will need about a pound and a half of scallops; olive oil; orange juice; your favorite infused oil (we used Black Truffle Extra Virgin Olive oil in place of the recommended olive oil and hazelnut oil, mostly because hazelnut oil, and our second choice, almond oil has apparently been discontinued in or unobtainable to every grocery store in Baltimore); salad greens (we always use spring mix since lighter greens lack many of the nutrients found in their darker counterparts); your favorite bleu cheese (we used buttermilk); and fresh chopped dill to sprinkle on top.

First, you whisk 4 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp orange juice and 2 tsp hazelnut oil, if you are able to find it. Or you can whisk 3 tbsp orange juice and  4/5 tbsp Black Truffle Extra Virgin Olive oil (or other infused olive oil), add sea salt, pepper to taste, and set it aside.  Next, you sear the scallops, about a minute on each side, in an extra hot pan, using a splash of the infused oil  in addition to whatever cooking oil you chose. Finally, place the scallops atop the greens, sprinkle bleu cheese and chopped dill on top and spoon olive oil and orange juice mixture over it and Viola! Enjoy!