The Secret to Perfectly Seared Scallops is a Spoon

Plus: Sugar Snap Cacio e Pepe, A Chicken and Rapini Stir-Fry, and Buttery Cheesy Polenta.

Hey Thursday friends,

Over the years I’ve had a few scallop embarrassments. The most embarrassing thing that can happen with a scallop? You try to flip it too early and tear away the golden brown bits that you worked so hard to achieve.

That’s why I believe that your best tool for making scallops is a spoon. A SPOON!?!? Yes a spoon.

The secret is that you just pat them dry (buy dry-packed scallops), season with salt and pepper, and put them in a hot pan coated with oil and you leave them alone. Don’t touch them. Don’t move them. Don’t even look at them. After a minute, when you see a golden round ring around the bottom, you use a spoon and you try to flip the scallop over. If it doesn’t flip? It’s not ready. If it does flip? It is ready. And that’s why a spoon, not a spatula, is your best tool for cooking scallops. It doesn’t let you flip them until the scallop is ready to be flipped.

CLICK HERE for my recipe for seared scallops with sugar snap cacio e pepe! It’s delightfully springy and super easy to make.

Also on the menu: Chicken and Rapini Stir-Fry from the Myers & Chang cookbook.

Bored of chicken and broccoli or beef and broccoli? Enter rapini. It’s bitter, it’s got a leafier texture, and it adds so much complexity to an otherwise pretty traditional stir-fry.

CLICK HERE for the recipe.

Hey, I just posted a sponsored video for Food52 where I showed off their bench scraper and olive wood cutting board:

@amateurgourmetUsing my @Food52 bench scraper and cutting board makes prepping salads a cinch! Click the link in my bio to get them for your own kitchen. 💫 #food #foodtok #ad #kitchenhack #salad #foodprep

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If you’d like to get those for yourself and see the other items in my Food52 store, CLICK HERE.

Now let’s talk polenta and share some cool links….