Vermouth Seared Scallops on Fennel

5 from 1 vote

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.

Prep Time20

Cook Time7

Total Time27

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 195kcal

Author: Carolyn Hetke

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.

Vermouth

Make sure to use dry Vermouth as well. This means less than 50 grams of residual sugar per liter.

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.

Mandarins

Use cannned mandarins. They are softer than fresh mandarin segments, which is what you want here.

Nutrition