Seared Sea Scallops with Grilled Summer Veggies and Beurre Blanc

As you know, yesterday was Mother’s Day. Being the single mom of an unemployed young teen, I don’t typically get taken out to dinner on Mother’s Day. I’m not complaining because 1) I can always take us out if I wanted to and 2) I hate the thought of eating out with huge crowds and long lines just because it’s Mother’s Day. Seriously, I’d rather just celebrate on a different day.

I was hanging out enjoying my coffee when I was hit with a brilliant idea. I could make my very own fancy schmancy dinner to celebrate. Plus I’d get to have a quiet dinner at home with the one person that I’d want to spend the day with – The Kid! I perused the internets and checked out quite a few recipes. I love to cook but I wanted something that wasn’t hugely difficult but also wasn’t something that I’d make all the time.

I decided pretty quickly that I wanted scallops and found the perfect recipe to modify to fit a contest prep diet. Don’t let recipes scare you into thinking you can’t change them up to suit your needs. Typically you can cut butter and fat here and cheese and sauces there. That’s exactly what I ended up doing. The dinner was so freaking amazing and fun to do that we decided to find a recipe each Sunday and start a new tradition of Fancy Sunday Dinner!

Reading over the recipe, it sounds complicated but it was really easy and took only about 30 minutes total. I set the oven to preheat while I whipped up the sauce and chopped the veggies. Once the oven was hot, the veggies were ready to pop in and I started the pan for the scallops. The veggies were ready for their final heating while I cooked the scallops, and voila everything was done at the same time.

Seared Sea Scallops with Grilled Summer Veggies and Beurre Blanc

• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 green onions, white and green parts chopped
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 medium yellow squash
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 red onion
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 lb sea scallops
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 500 degrees and place a large cookie sheet in the oven while preheating. Combine the wine and green onions in a small pot and bring to a boil. Cook the wine mixture for about 5 minutes to reduce to approximately 2 tablespoons. Add butter to the mixture and whisk until creamy. Note: I used a soy free, dairy free butter substitute for this since The Kid has a dairy allergy. You can use faux butter or the real thing. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the orange zest and 1/4 tsp salt. Set aside for later.

Slice the zucchini, squash, pepper and onion into strips. Toss them with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and salt and pepper them, if desired. Carefully remove the preheated cookie sheet from the oven and spread the veggies onto the sheet. Bake at 500 degrees for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the minced garlic. Add the tomatoes and return to the oven. Bake for another 4 – 5 minutes until the veggies start to brown. Remove from oven.

While the veggies are cooking, rinse the scallops and pat them dry. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a skillet, swirling the pan to coat it with the oil. Add the scallops to the hot oil and cook for about 90 seconds on each side until done. Serve the scallops topped with the wine sauce (AKA beurre blanc) and the veggies on the side. Makes 4 servings at approximately 275 calories each.

I ate the leftovers today for lunch and they were still delish. Do you have a fancy Sunday dinner at your house?