Seared Scallops & Pasta with Lobster, Lemon & Brown Butter
And a few thoughts on being in a new place.
It’s been one month since I landed in Connecticut with my infant son. We flew from Detroit to Hartford, well-aware of the risks of air travel during the pandemic, to spend 6 months in New Haven while my husband finishes his last semester of graduate school at Yale.
Since the snowy night we arrived, I’ve been in and out of the honeymoon phase of being in a new place. There are lots of things here that we didn’t have back home: it’s safe to walk the dog around the neighborhood at night. We live close to East Rock, a 366-foot mountainous ridge with an Angel of Peace statue at the top that glows every night, visible through our back windows. There are two Italian grocers, a pizza place, and a coffee shop all within walking distance!
Once the newness started to wear off, some drawbacks began to emerge: A smaller kitchen means less space for elaborate cooking projects. The backyard isn’t fenced in like it is at home, so we have to keep the dog on a leash every time we take her outside. Family isn’t close by to help with the baby. I don’t have any friends here.
As the loneliness crept in, I registered for a virtual “new moms” group, specifically for people who have brought home a baby during the pandemic. The first meeting was a few days ago. The group leader emphasized that becoming a new mom can be a very isolating experience—and becoming a new mom during a pandemic exponentiates those feelings of isolation.
In an attempt to lessen this loneliness and keep in touch while I’m away, I’m going to share a recipe once each week from my little kitchen here in New Haven. Please let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see here!
One of the most delicious and memorable meals we’ve made here takes full advantage of the incredible seafood we have access to, now that we live so close to the ocean. (It’s only about a 15-minute drive to dip our toes in the Atlantic.) I’ve never been able to buy local day boat scallops (nor did I even know what they were) until finding Sea Wells Seafood, a tiny shack in Mystic, CT. Day boat scallops are harvested on boats that can only fish for 24 hours at a time before returning to harbor—so they’re way more fresh than scallops that are harvested then stored on the boat for longer trips or scallops that are frozen then thawed. And, even better, the ones we bought at Sea Wells were harvested in Stonington, CT—just about 5 miles away from the shop! These scallops were a truly special find, and I wanted to create a meal that would really highlight that. Pasta was the way to go, and the simplicity of the brown butter and lemon with the pasta allows fresh seared scallops to shine.
Seared Scallops & Pasta with Lobster, Lemon & Brown Butter
Serves 2-4, depending on hunger levels and side dishes
Ingredients:
½ cup butter, divided
2 lemons
Handful of flat leaf parsley (more or less to your liking)
8 oz linguine, spaghetti, or angel hair pasta (though any shape of noodle will be delicious)
Salt, pepper, high heat cooking fat (such as ghee, coconut oil, or sunflower oil)
1 lb scallops (preferably as fresh as you can find!)
½-1 lb cooked lobster meat (I used the meat from 2 big leftover lobster rolls)
½ cup grated pecorino or parmigiano reggiano
Directions:
Make the brown butter: place 6 T of butter into a heavy bottom saucepan, and cook over medium heat. Watch butter melt, then start to foam, and then turn brown. Watch closely, and be careful not to burn. Pour the butter into a bowl and set aside. (I like to brown butter in an enamel coated Dutch oven, so you can easily see the brown flecks of butter against the light-colored enamel.)
Prep the produce: Zest and juice your lemons; chop your parsley. Set these aside with the brown butter, so you can easily grab them when it’s time to put the pasta together.
Cook the pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add a generous amount of salt. Cook the pasta to al dente. Drain in a colander, and use a coffee cup to reserve a bit of the cooking water.
Sear the scallops: Once you’ve dropped the pasta, add some ghee (or other high heat cooking fat) to a skillet on medium-high heat. Pat the scallops dry with paper towel, and season with salt and pepper. When the skillet is hot, add the scallops! Cook until you get a golden brown sear (2-4 minutes depending on their size). Flip the scallops and cook until golden brown and just cooked through. Remove from heat (you don’t want to eat overcooked, rubber-y scallops!).
Put the pasta together: Turn the heat down to low, and add cooked pasta, brown butter, lemon zest and juice, and cooked lobster meat into the skillet and toss together to combine and warm through. Add grated cheese, parsley, and enough pasta water to help the buttery-lemon sauce meld together.
Plate your pasta, and add seared scallops to the top. Garnish with cracked black pepper, a little more cheese, and enjoy.
Recipe loosely adapted from Kitchen Stories.
See you next week!