Farmer's Market Pan Seared Scallops

What a lovely weekend it was. Although the week was filled with rain showers, the weekend shaped up to be picture perfect weather. John and I did a quick food shop and chopped up pineapple, watermelon, strawberries and grapes into a fruit salad. There is nothing more enjoyable in the summer than a yummy and refreshing fruit salad to satisfy your taste buds. I also bought some organic cherries, which are by far my favorite beach snack, especially when they are nice and chilled. John does a pretty legit job when it comes to chopping and prepping, so I let him do his thing in the kitchen.

Yesterday was filled with baby and birthday celebrations, which were a lot of fun. It was the perfect day to be with friends and enjoy the outdoors a bit. The morning started with my friend Liz's baby shower which was a lovely afternoon tea. We enjoyed our own personal tea, quiche, fresh scones and yummy finger sandwiches. It was an adorable morning celebrating the new arrival. We headed to Long Beach later in the afternoon for my friend Deb's 30th birthday and it was an evening filled with cocktails, laughs and lots of catching up, oh and a pretty big horse race, which was so fun watching live with everyone. John and I woke up this morning and decided to check out a new farmer's market in King's Park. We ended up stopping at the fresh fish stand. They had so many gorgeous cuts of fish and when the vendor offered John to try one of his scallops raw (of course John daringly went for it), we couldn't pass them up. They were super fresh and perfectly sized. Twenty bucks later we had a pound of fresh scallops and Sunday night's dinner. The vendor was super nice and we can't wait to go back and try his other fresh fish.

We also stopped by the Coach Farm cheese stand. We sampled some goat cheeses and brie and wow, were we blown away. The cheese was so fresh and creamy we couldn't pass it up. We decided on a log of goat cheese stuffed with figs and a block of their triple cream brie. This cheese was no joke, and the vendor ran out pretty quickly so we were lucky enough to score some goods. Most of you know my love affair with cheese and this stuff was damn good. After doing some digging I found out they are located in the Hudson Valley and make the finest goat milk cheeses around. I can't wait to go back next week and try some more varieties.

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting a workout in and I decided to lay by the pool to catch some rays. It was perfect pool weather today and I couldn't pass it up. Once I got back in the house I began to prep dinner. I was in charge of sides and John did his thing with our scallops. I started by preheating the oven and baking our yams on 375 degrees on a baking sheet lined with foil. I always make sure to poke a good amount of holes on each side and rotate half way through cook time, usually at the 30 minute mark.

Next, I decided to make an asparagus foil pack to steam in the oven. I cut my asparagus stems and seasoned with salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, extra virgin olive oil and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. I sealed the packet up tight and baked on the top rack along with my potatoes on 375 degrees. Ten minutes before John started on the scallops, we kicked up the heat on the oven to 400 degrees to make sure our potatoes got nice and soft.

We took our scallops and separated them and seasoned with a bit of black pepper. While those sat, we took a deep saute pan and melted 2 tablespoons of butter. As the butter melted we minced 3 cloves of garlic and sauteed in the buttered pan on low until the garlic browned a bit.

 

As the garlic browned, we kicked up the heat a bit and began placing our scallops evenly through out the pan. Cook your scallops for about 4 minutes on each side on medium heat. Make sure to use your judgement, we like our scallops with a light sear and a soft center. 

John shook them up a bit in the pan a few times to make sure the garlic was evenly coating our scallops. A few minutes before your scallops are done, remove your asparagus foil pack from the oven. Your spears should be nice and tender. I used the remaining of my lemon and drizzled on top.

We took out our potatoes, sliced and plated our scallops. We garnished with some fresh parsley from our hanging herb garden. These scallops were AMAZING. Extremely fresh and so sweet. You could tell how fresh they were and it made all the difference. If you have leftovers (we did not) dice up and throw in with some linguine, garlic and oil the next day. I promise it will be delicious!

 

This was truly one of the best summer dinners to throw together. So fresh and light and literally took a total of an hour from prep to cook time. We love cooking fresh fish in the summer and really utilizing the fresh farm produce, meats and fish from our local farmer's market. It makes a world of a difference cooking with fresh and organic local foods. If your unsure if your town or city has a local farmer's market, visit Grow NYC to find one nearby, or do a quick Google search in your browser. If you are already visiting your local farmer's markets let us know what your favorite products to buy are and where your local farmer's market is located. Happy eating!