I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had seven adults at our celebration, including Shannon and her parents, and my good friend Geeti and her hubby Puneet and their cutie newborn son. Shannon and I split up the menu so we both ended up being quite relaxed and not overly stressed on Thursday. I was responsible for the turkey, gravy, stuffing, green beans, rolls, and pumpkin pie, while Shannon tackled the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, and apple pear crisp. Every dish I made was a first for me, so it was really fun! I also made Geeti a quinoa stuffed acorn squash, which was a twist on this recipe, since she’s a vegetarian. I removed the ground turkey and cooked the quinoa in veggie stock, of course, and also added in sautéed apples, lemon juice, and fresh sage instead of dried thyme. It was an evening full of wonderful food and even better company!
I actually was sick with a bad cold over the rest of the weekend and had a bunch of work to do, but thankfully I’m finally feeling better now and am in the mood to blog again – I also can’t wait to get back to the gym and into my kitchen this week! This scallop recipe is one that we enjoyed a few weeks ago. I picked up scallops on a whim at the market and decided it would be fun to make them with an Asian twist. I dusted the scallops with five spice powder, coriander, and cayenne pepper, and set the seared beauties on top of a bed of spinach sautéed with rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and sesame oil. I spooned some broth from the spinach on top and then we mopped it up from our bowls with some crusty bread. This is about a 20 minute meal – very fast and tasty.
Five Spice Scallops over Sesame Spinach
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound sea scallops, side muscle removed
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
10 ounces fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Directions:
Mix five spice powder, coriander, cayenne pepper, and salt in a small bowl. Rinse scallops and pat them dry with paper towels. Place scallops on a large dish and evenly sprinkle spices on all sides of the scallops. Heat canola oil and butter over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet and add scallops to the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes and then flip over with tongs. Cook an 2 additional minutes or until scallops are opaque and firm. Remove scallops from the pan. Add spinach to the same pan and cover with a lid and heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until wilted. Stir in vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and sesame oil. Place spinach into two bowls and place scallops on top. Spoon desired amount of spinach broth on top. Makes 2 servings.
Nutrition: 418 calories, 14.7g fat, 3.5g fiber, 42.6g protein per serving
Cost: $6.95 per serving