Seared Scallops with an Orange-Garlic and Wine Sauce

I found this idea from a magazine last week.  All I saw were the words seared, scallops, orange, garlic, and brussels and I was SOLD! That is my kind of meal.  I don't cook scallops often, but now that I have found this pairing of sauce with it, I believe this will be a regular in our house from now on.

This is one of the more elegant meals for a weekday menu, but the prep is just as easy and the taste is just as good!

Seared Scallops:

1 pound of Sea Scallops (about 12 large scallops)

Salt and Pepper

1 tablespoon of Butter

1 clove of Garlic

Orange-Garlic and Wine Sauce:


1/4-1/2 cup of Orange Juice

1 tablespoon of Rice Wine Vinegar

2 tablespoons of Butter

1 generous drizzle of dry White Wine

2 cloves of Garlic 

First, wash off your scallops.  Very important piece here... pat them dry! Patting them dry to get any type of moisture off is the key to getting the perfect "sear".  Season them with salt and pepper and set aside.

On medium heat add 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 cloves of garlic to start your sauce.  Once the garlic begins to brown, add in your orange juice, rice wine vinegar, and drizzle of white wine.  Bring this mixture to a boil, then turn the heat back down to low and cover.



While that is finishing up its' cooking process, heat your scallop pan on high and add one table spoon of butter as well as one clove of garlic.  Once it is hot hot hot, add your scallops face side down.  Cook on one side for two minutes and flip, they should be a nice golden brown color. And repeat for the other side.  Once both sides have a nice "sear" to them... they are ready to plate!



Lay them beautifully on your plate to show off their color and drizzle the orange sauce mixture all over them (making sure that this mixture is still hot)! The more the merrier! I also chose to drizzle some of the sauce over the sides (which in this case were brussels).



For this dish I chose to compliment the scallops with easy-bake sweet potato fries (which you can find at your local grocery store's freezer section) as well as fresh pan-seared brussel sprouts.  For the brussels, I simply heat up some butter in a pan, dice them in half, cooked them through on medium heat, and topped them with garlic salt and pepper! This is an amazing date-night meal or even a healthy weekday seafood alternative for yourself!

I made this sauce up as I went, so I would recommend adding anything you think would compliment it well! Some thoughts I had for next time would be to add some type of sweet-heat action, like red pepper flakes and honey.  Make it your own! And more importantly... ENJOY!