Seared Scallop with Wakame Salad
At the latest Little River Inn Forage and Ferment event guides were able to dive for Giant Rock Scallop also known as the the Purple Hinge Rock Scallop. Scallops are actually very simple to prepare, but there is a right and wrong way and they can be ruined rather easily. Because we use fresh caught scallops we generally serve them seared on the outside and still raw in the middle, this pairs well with locally sourced seaweed salad made from Wakame.
Wakame can be harvested locally depending on your region, if you cannot harvest it we also source Wakame from a company called Rising Tide Sea Vegetables http://www.loveseaweed.com/default.html .
Wakame, whole leaf, Mendocino, CA (Alaria)
Wakame is high in calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamins A, B, and C. Try simmering and then marinating it with ginger, soy sauce, and rice syrup. Add to soups, or soak and add to stir-fries. Toast and sprinkle. Wildcrafted, Raw
Generally the Wakame salad can be prepared ahead of time and thrown in the fridge to keep cool.
Gingered Wakame Salad Prep:
Ingredients:
1 T oil (preferably olive or toasted sesame)
2 T Soy Sauce
3 Medium Garlic cloves chopped
1 T Honey
1 Tsp grated Ginger
1 package .75 oz Wakame ( yes this seems like nothing but when reconstituted goes rather far)
Soak Wakame in water for approximately 10 minutes, remove and keep soak water, cut into 1/4 inch strips. Use a sharp chef’s knife, scissors also actually works very well.
Combine above ingredients without seaweed in wok or frying pan and saute for 2 minutes, add cut Wakame and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes adding soak water until reconstituted)
Chill in cooler.
We like to add cut cucumber and carrot to the mix after chilled to add some color and texture to the salad.
Scallop Prep
The most common scallops served in restaurants are the Bay Scallop which is smaller and sometimes served with the roe sac and the Rock Scallop/diver scallop which is much larger and normally served by itself. The scallop we used were rock scallops.
Any time you are harvesting filter feeders please look into local regulations and harvest conditions! There can be closured and harvest seasons, like mussels scallops can be affected by Domoic Acid!
Ingredients:
Sea Scallops room temperature
Salt and Pepper or prefered seasoning
High Temp neutral tasting oil such a vegetable.
Butter
Cast Iron pan
Dry Scallops with paper towel and season both sides with S and P or preferred seasoning. Heat Cast Iron to high heat with oil. Pan should be almost smoking.
Add scallops, if you do not immediately hear a searing sound from the pan remove scallop and heat pan further.
Sear on side one for approximately 30 seconds, add butter about 5 seconds prior flipping and spoon butter/oil mix over quickly scallop.
Flip scallop, look for that nice sear.
Cook an addition 30 seconds basting with butter as they cook.
Cook times can vary and if you are using store bought scallops you can extend cook times to cook through. We prefer seared raw in the middle such as a seared ahi, adjust cooking times to preference.
Sam the Cook Guy has a excellent video on how he cooks scallops, there are some small variation but very close to.
Serve scallop on chilled Wakame salad and enjoy!
If you have any recipe suggestions please email us at UltimateSpearfishing@gmail.com !
