Game Day Snack #2 - Pan Seared Scallops & Caprese Salad

This past weekend, my husband was still in the induction phase of the South Beach diet, so I had to modify what I had originally chosen for his game day snack.

I found a recipe for pan-seared scallops with a butter sauce at userealbutter.com*, and made a pretty side caprese salad.

*you know any site called "use real butter" has GOT to be good...

These scallops were SO good! I purchased 4 large dry scallops (dry??? read the original post to learn what I did about dry scallops!) and had the rest of what I needed at home.

Since my husband had diet restrictions, white wine was not an option for the sauce, though I really wanted to try it (and will, next time).

When I got ready to make these on Sunday, I realized I don't own a regular skillet. How is that even possible?  I have 5, 926 non-stick skillets, and too many pots and pans in general, but not one plain ol' skillet. So...I decided to use a POT. Thought, it should work ok...so I happily started bustling around my kitchen, pulled out my pot, turned on the heat and got things started.

Then I realized I had heated up (very high heat, mind you) and oiled a NON-STICK pot. Sheesh. I could have used a non-stick pan after all!

Anyway, I decided to keep going. It took 10 minutes max to make these little treats, and they turned out fabulously! Husband gobbled them up in no time!

The caprese salad was a nice fresh bonus on the side - that couldn't have been easier either! I pulled this entire meal together in about 15 minutes.

Here's how they looked - you should give these recipes a try! If you, do let me know how they turn out!

Pan-Seared Scallops with Butter Sauce
4 large dry scallops
sea salt (just a pinch)
black pepper (just a pinch)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup liquid (white wine, chicken or veggie broth - I used chicken broth)
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1. Pour olive oil into pan (or pot!) and crank up the heat (pretty high, but not all the way up).
2. Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
3. Place scallops carefully in pan and let it do its own thing for 2-3 minutes (I let mine go a little longer because I wanted a tiny bit of crunch on the outside).
4. Gently turn scallops over in the pan and let it go for another 1-2 minutes.
5. Remove scallops from pan and place on a plate.
6. Add butter to pan and stir to melt. (let the butter/oil go for a minute if you want the sauce to be nice and browned).
7. Slowly add liquid and use a whisk to scrape up the bits from the bottom of the pan.
8. Let sauce simmer for a few minutes (it'll thicken just a bit).
9. Pour sauce over the top of the scallops and sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley. Enjoy!


Caprese Salad
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup yellow tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh mozzarella mini balls (you could use any fresh mozzarella you want; you just need to be able to make it roughly the same size as the tomatoes when you chop it)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2-3 fresh basil leaves
kosher salt/black pepper

1. Chop tomatoes in half (or quartered if you want smaller bites)
2. Chop mini mozzarella balls in half (or quartered if you want smaller bites)
3. Place tomatoes in a bowl (large enough to gently stir in a minute)
4. Drizzle olive oil and vinegar over the top of the tomatoes and mozzarella.
5. Stack basil leaves on top of each other and then roll into a small circular shape; chop into small pieces (this makes pretty strips for your salad; you could chop in any shape you like) and sprinkle over salad.
6. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the top. Enjoy!

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