Scampi-Style Scallops

Every Wednesday night the kids and I have dinner at my parent's house while my husband plays in his golf leagues.  I get to try out a lot of new recipes that I don't won't interest my husband, while at the same time protecting myself and my kids from my mother's English cooking.  Just kidding mom... kind of.

This week was her turn to cook so she bought scallops and zucchini from the store.  Then she turned the kitchen over to me.  Here's what we had:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup couscous (I substituted angel hair pasta here instead)

1 ¼ lbs. sea scallops

1 lemon

1 clove garlic, pressed

4 zucchini or yellow summer squash (8 oz. each)

1 TBS margarine or butter

1 TBS chopped fresh chives

Salt and pepper

1 medium tomato- diced (another add-on since the garden is just starting to produce our own tomatoes!)

DIRECTIONS

Prepare couscous pasta as label directs.

Meanwhile, pull off and discard muscle from each scallop, rinse to remove sand from crevices.  Pat scallops dry.

From lemon, grate 1 tsp peel and squeeze 2 TBS juice.  In bowl, toss scallops with garlic, ½ tsp peel, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp coarse black pepper.

With a vegetable peeler, slice each squash lengthwise into thin, long ribbons until you reach core with seeds.  Discard core.  Set aside ribbons.

In a nonstick 12-inch skillet, heat margarine over medium-high heat until melted.  Add scallops and cook 5-6 minutes, until browned and just opaque throughout, turning once.  Transfer scallops to plate.   

Add squash to same skillet.  Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook 2 minutes, stirring once.  Uncover and cook 1 minute or until tender-crisp.  Remove squash from heat, stir in lemon juice and remaining peel.

Lastly, throw another TBS or so of garlic in the pan and saute tomatoes until just tender.  Add back in scallops and heat through.

Spoon vegetable mixture onto 4 plates, top with scallops and sprinkle with chives.  Serve with couscous.

VERDICT

This was delicious!  You could make it a lot healthier skipping the pasta and putting the scallops/tomatoes on top of the zucchini slices, but it's a great filling dish with the pasta as the base.