Tarragon Lime bay scallops over angel-hair pasta

October 26, 2010

I didn’t read the recipe I’d chosen for today completely and it called for a lot of cream. I can’t have cream, so I changed it to this one.

Tarragon Lime Bay scallops over Angel-hair pasta, Gourmets, 5 ingredients, pg 41

It needed some modifications since it was a last minute addition.

¾ lb dried angel-hair pasta
1 ½ lb bay scallops or quartered sea scallops
¾ cup butter
3 T fresh lime juice
2 T finely chopped fresh tarragon

Cook pasta in 6-8 cups of boiling water until al dente. Reserve ¼ cup cooking liquid, drain the pasta.

Rinse the scallops and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 3 T butter in a 12” skillet over moderately high heat, until foam subsides, then cook half the scallops, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Cook remaining scallops in the same manner. Return scallops to the skillet and add lime juice and tarragon.

Toss pasta in a bowl with half of the scallops and ¼ cup cooking liquid. Top pasta with remaining scallops and sauce, and season with salt and pepper.

That’s how they said to do it. Here’s how I did it.

I had frozen sea scallops, so I defrosted them in cold water, patted dry and cut into quarters.

I used cellophane (Chinese Rice) noodles, which are cooked differently from wheat pasta. Bring the water to a boil, add the pasta, boil for one minute or so. Turn off the heat and cover the pan. Let sit for about 20 minutes. Drain.

I used less butter because 6 T (1/3 cup) seemed excessive. I heated the butter, sautéed the scallops until done and drained. I didn’t have fresh tarragon (because this wasn’t planned) so I used dried. Combine the lime juice and tarragon and pour over the scallops.

While the scallops were cooking, I steamed a bunch of spinach.

To Serve: layer noodles and noodles on a dish, top with scallops.

It seemed overly lime-y, I think I’d use less when I make it next time. Other than that, it was pretty good.