Spring brings with it a craving for greens and fresh things and let’s face it sometimes you just don’t feel like cooking. 
You’ve had one of those really, really long days and the thought of a restaurant sounds good but then again, you have to sit down and decide where you want to go and really its not so much the thought of cooking that is stopping you but rather the thought of deciding about what you want to eat. So actually having to make a decision on where to eat doesn’t really solve the problem.
We’re lucky with the fact that we have a very close shopping area that we can walk to in about 10 minutes so daily shopping euro style is very much a possibility. However, we are in North America so reality is of course that we have a freezer full of food (thanks Costco) so that we don’t have to do that daily shopping and can just pop something out of the freezer in the am. Great concept but freezers do entail some planning, if you want to eat the food out of it on the same day. And of course, planning is great if you’re an organized planner. Next life perhaps?
So on those days where I just don’t seem to get it together early in the morning, or even the evening, I resort to scallops. I tend to usually have a bag of frozen scallops just waiting to be defrosted. The beauty of scallops is that they defrost in cold water in less than half an hour, they cook literally in seconds and if you serve them with lots of veg you really don’t need that many and they become less of a luxury dinner!
Not to mention it makes a light healthy dinner which just echoes spring.
- [b]For Salad:[/b]
- 3-6 large scallops per person (I prefer Digby Bay scallops when I can get them)
- Baby spinach -usually a couple handfuls per person but feel free to add more to your plate
- 2 peppers, julienned (red, yellow and/or orange)
- small handful of cilantro, chopped
- feel free to add other veggies such as tomatoes, toasted almonds or pine nuts take this to another level!
- [b]Dressing:[/b]
- juice from 1 lemon
- juice from one orange
- 2 tbsp good olive oil
- fresh ground black pepper and sea salt to taste
- Defrost scallops under cold running water – this should not take more than about 15 minutes but make sure that there are not too many in one container.
- clean spinach and place desired amount on the plate. Distribute the peppers around the plate on top of the spinach.
- Make the dressing before cooking the scallops. In a bowl whisk together the juices and the olive oil, adding salt and pepper to taste as well as the cilantro. Reserve and either put on the table so that people can help themselves or pour it over the entire plate once you have placed the scallops on the salad.
- Place a non stick pan on the stove and heat it on medium high. Once the pan is hot, turn it down to medium and immediately place each scallop in the pan. Press down on each scallop to ensure maximum browning, then flip. Be careful not to overcook the scallops – they only take a minute or two each side depending on the size.
