These Vermouth Seared Scallops on Fennel make an amazing, elegant starter course. This is perfect for winter entertaining when fennel is readily available and you are looking for something different.
Ingredients
Scallops
- Sea scallops are the large ones- about 2-3 inches in diameter. Don't confuse them with the smaller bay scallops
- Make sure you get 'dry' scallops. Some scallops are injected or soaked in sodium tripolyphosphate. This is absorbed and adds water weight to the scallops (to the producers benefit). When you cook 'wet' scallops the sodium tripolyphosphate is released and the scallops steam and saute and you will never get a nice caramlized browned coating. The liquid even has a smell reminiscent of fertilizer which carries over into the flavour. 'Dry' scallops are totally natural and should taste sweet and fresh.
- I buy frozen Olivia Scallops from Costco and can highly recommend them. They are U15 which means it takes 'under' 15 to make up a pound. This 680 gram package is just over 1 ½ pounds of scallops. So you will get around 22 scallops.
Vermouth
- Make sure to use dry Vermouth as well. This means less than 50 grams of residual sugar per liter. Check here if you want to know about Vermouth.
Fennel
- Fennel is a bulb with celery-like stalks rising out the top. It has a mild, sweetish licorice. But with a few simple ingredients, as in this case, it can become the signature flavour of the dish.
- Use a mandolin to slice the fennel and onion as finely as required. The warm sauce softens them a bit and the texture is soft - similar to the scallops. You do not want crispy, crunchy fennel or onions here.
Mandarins
- Use cannned mandarins. They are softer than fresh mandarin segments, which is what you want here.
The sauce for the scallops makes enough to serve as the dressing for the fennel salad base. It is warm and savoury and makes for a perfect winter appetizer.
Vermouth Seared Scallops on Fennel
Crispy, seared scallops sit on bed of finely sliced fennel and red onion. A savoury Vermouth sauce makes this an outstanding appetizer or lunch. And it's ready in less than 30 minutes.
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Save Print Pin FacebookServings: 6 servings
Ingredients
Fennel Base
- 1 bulb fennel
- ½ cup red onion
- 1 11oz can mandarins
Scallops
- 24 large sea scallops (I used 680 gram pkgs of Olivia Sea Scallops)
- 2 Tbsps unsalted butter divided 1 + 1 Tbsp
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 Tbsps shallots minced
- ¼ cup dry vermouth
- 2 Tbsps parsley minced
- zest of ½ lemon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
Fennel Salad Base
- Halve the fennel bulb lengthwise. Trim the end of the bulb and the remove the green stalks. Remove any green from the core of the bulb. With a mandolin, slice each half very finely cross-wise.
- Slice ½ red onion with the mandolin.
- Drain mandarins.
- Mix the fennel and red onion. Divide evenly over 6 salad plates. Divide mandarin pieces among the 6 plates.
Scallops
- Have all your ingredients for the scallops ready to go.
- Rinse the scallops and allow liquid to drain off. Pat dry with paper towels. Make sure the scallops are dry on all sides or they will not brown.
- In a large skillet melt 1 tablespoon of butter and the oil over medium high heat. Make sure the pan and oil are hot. To test the heat make sure a drop of water sizzles when added to the pan. Place scallops evenly around the pan. Do not crowd. Allow scallops to sizzle for 2 minutes before flipping them over. Do not touch or move the scallops during the 2 minutes. They should be golden in colour when you flip them over. If they are not browned let them sizzle longer until the colour is achieved. Flip and cook 2 minutes on the other side. Do not touch for 2 minutes. When browned remove scallops from the pan to a side plate. Be careful not to over cook or they will get rubbery.
- Add the shallots and vermouth to the pan and cook for 1 minutes. Scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the vermouth to half.
- Add the parsley, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Cook 1 minute then add the remaining tablespoon of butter.
- Add the scallops back to the pan. Coat them with the sauce and allow them to rewarm. This will only take 1-2 minutes.
- Place 3-4 scallops on each plate of fennel. Drizzle any remaining pan sauce over scallops and fennel bed.
Notes
Notes:
Scallops
-
- Sea scallops are the large ones- about 2-3 inches in diameter. Don't confuse them with the smaller bay scallops
-
- Make sure you get 'dry' scallops. Some scallops are injected or soaked in sodium tripolyphosphate. This is absorbed and adds water weight to the scallops (to the producers benefit). When you cook 'wet' scallops the sodium tripolyphosphate is released and the scallops steam and saute and you will never get a nice caramlized browned coating. The liquid even has a smell reminiscent of fertilizer which carries over into the flavour. 'Dry' scallops are totally natural and should taste sweet.
- Make sure to use dry Vermouth as well. This means less than 50 grams of residual sugar per liter.
- Fennel is a bulb with celery-like stalks rising out the top. It has a mild, sweetish licorice. But with a few simple ingredients, as in this case, it can become the signature flavour of the dish.
- Use cannned mandarins. They are softer than fresh mandarin segments, which is what you want here.
Nutrition
Calories: 195kcal | Carbohydrates: 7.8g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 5.9g | Saturated Fat: 2.8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 360mg | Potassium: 364mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g
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