Raise your hand if you’re trying to eat healthy. Wave your hands wildly if it doesn’t happen everyday. Sometimes you just want a cookie, or ten. I’m sure eating an entire container of Oreos would be frowned upon. Delicious, but frowned upon. No cookies for us for dinner this week. We are still working on eating more healthy and being mindful of our carb intake. We aren’t eliminating them, just being more aware and trying to choose better.
Scallops are a favorite in our house. We’ve made them wrapped in bacon and with a delicious fresh orange glaze but mostly we sprinkle salt and pepper and a sear them in the skillet. It’s easy, fast, delicious and one of those can’t fail dinners. This would be our first time pairing them with zoodles; but it will not be the last.
While making the grocery list and meal planning for the week Sunday night, I asked Mark what he’d like for dinner (and inside quietly prayed the answer wasn’t hamburgers and hot dogs). He knew he wanted to make his dad’s tacos for Saturday and we tossed around ideas for the rest of the week. We haven’t had scallops in a while so let’s have those. Okay, what would you like them with besides a salad? Does anyone else have these dinner conversations every single week? I wanted to get zucchini in a dinner so I threw out the idea of having zoodles with the scallops and he perked right up. Ooh, I may have found a winner.
The zoodles are a snap to make, click here for my blog post about this fun way to eat zucchini. While I washed, spiralized and squeezed some moisture out of the zucchini, Mark rinsed and dried the scallops. You may want to pat them a few times.
First off, clearly I didn’t buy enough. Big mistake on my part. One pound is a lot for the two of us but 1/2 pound definitely wasn’t enough. Next time, it’s 3/4 a pound. Back to the scallops.
We fired up our cast iron pans. I am way late to the cast iron skillet so we are still working on the seasoning process. I guess I’m a victim of the non-stick Teflon era. I use the cast iron whenever I can hoping to have a properly seasoned one before I die. Plus it’s a nice way to sneak in a little weightlifting in the kitchen as those suckers are heavy. I digress again, back to the scallops.
Since we had such a tiny amount of them, we cooked them in the smaller pan. We vary cooking them in olive oil or butter and tonight Mark picked butter. He dropped a hunk in the pan and let it sizzle. Most times when we just salt and pepper them generously. Tonight he wanted some heat so we also added some cayenne pepper.
The zoodles take about the same amount of time as the scallops so I worked the zoodle pan while he worked the scallops pan. The scallops cook anywhere from 2-3 minutes a side depending on their size. Small ones are about 1.5 minutes a side. Let them sizzle nicely in the pan. Turn them over, sprinkle your seasoning on the other side and you’re done in no time. This night he dropped them into the zoodles skillet, butter and all. I tossed them around for several seconds and dinner was ready.
I have to say, this ended being a really good meal. One we will make again both at home and in the RV. The spiralizer is light and breaks down to take up very little coveted RV cupboard space. It’ll be a great quick dinner after a long day of exploring.
Scallops and Zoodles
- One Pound Scallops
- Two Zucchini
- Butter or Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper
Rinse and pat scallops dry. Cut zucchini using spiralizer. Put either butter or olive oil in a skillet on high heat. Season the scallops with salt and pepper. Adding cayenne pepper was amazing. Sear for 1.5-3 minutes depending on size. Turn over, season and sear this side the same amount of time.
At the same time, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When ready, put zucchini in and stir around using tongs. Stir for 3 to 4 minutes but make sure it’s still a little crisp.
Add scallops, drippings and all to zoodles. Toss together and serve. This is very good with a little sprinkling of fresh grated Parmesan.