Pan Seared Scallops with Beet Greens and Shallots and Pasta

Since it was the weekend and my neice Kristen was coming over, I served a non-meat dish (she will eat fish, but not other forms of meat). As I went to the grocery store I noticed nice looking large scallops and got a pound and a half of them. I'd already put summer squash, several beets with greens, cilantro and parsely into the cart, not knowing what I'd make.

Once home I hit upon the menu:
Spaghetti with pan seared scallops, shallots, serranos and beet greens
Braised Beets
BBQed summer squash spears, marinated in olive oil, salt and pepper.

The key to making this recipe yummy is to properly cook the scallops. When properly done, they are moist and tender (not rubbery in the slightest) and deep brown from the pan searing, and they release a substantial yummy brown in the pan, that when deglazed, makes a fabulous sauce. While I made it pretty well, I used too much peanut oil and so the searing wasn't as deep, and there wasn't as much brown sauce. Ah well, one learns the same lessons over and over (and sometimes, "incorrect variations yield delicious surprises!).

I would say the flavor combination at base in this recipe is the shallots and the scallops (nice slant rhyme, eh?). They are to be offset by some sort of braised light leafy green. I've traditionally used rainbow chard, but the beet greens were superb. I also find that a chilli pepper, generally poblanos, adds to a nice flavor combo.

What I normally do is heat a large pan to very hot temperature with a bit of peanut oil. You can add some dried piquin peppers to the oil for flavoring and brown them first, but I didn't this time. Then add your scallops, sprinkling with kosher salt and freshly crushed black pepper. You want high heat to sear them quickly -- you don't want them getting overdone. A few minutes on each side until they are nicely browned and are oozing liquid. Remove them and set them aside.

Next, add the shallots (I used about 5 or 6 large shallots, peeled and minced). Add about 2 chopped serranos, and a bit of kosher salt and crushed black pepper (I will often use 2 or 3 roasted poblano peppers, peeled, seeded and diced, but today I opted tof the smaller serranos). When the shallots and peppers have cooked a minute or two, add some white wine to deglaze the pan and throw in the beet greens (or chard). The beet greens should have been de-stemmed (otherwise you'll get redish sauce). I destem the chard too. Chop it fairly well before adding.

The beet greens won't take long, so time this dish so the pasta (I prefer a long pasta for this dish) is ready about 2 minutes after you throw in the beet greens. Remove from the heat, add the scallops back in and toss with the pasta. Though it's considered gauche and a sin, I like to add reggiano parmesean after tossing. It's very good.

For the beets, I cleaned them and chopped off the heads and tails and braised them in white wine. I normally would have used a bit of chicken stock, but deferred to the vegetarian desires of my niece. I forgot, like a dumb-ass, to peel them.

For the squash, I trimmed them and had them cut into spears, soaked them in olive oil, salt and pepper, then threw them on the grill, turning them until nicely browned.

We drank Johannesberg Resiling from some Idaho vinter with it. Not too bad, for a white wine -- which I was sipping in the late afternoon and it lasted through to dinner.