Scallops make me so freaking happy why must they be so expensive??  I think we should all write a strongly worded letter to the scallop people demanding they lower the prices.  Anywho, these little babies are perfect.  The scallops are perfectly cooked little bites of heaven.  Super lean yet buttery in tastes, it truly AMAZES me every time I eat them.  Isn’t your typical pesto so don’t let that throw you off, it makes a lot of pesto, fortunately it is delicious so that is not a problem.  I highly recommend using the leftover for my pesto pasta with shrimp, it’s banging.

Photography by Sophie Marie Creative

Ingredients

Scallops

• 4 scallops; cleaned
• 1 clove garlic; minced
• 1 tablespoon salted butter
• 1 tablespoon flat leaf Italian parsley; chopped
• Cooking spray
• Salt

Sauce

• 1 pound fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup walnuts; toasted
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan
• 1 lemon; juiced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup non fat Greek yogurt
• Salt
• Pepper

Method

1. Put all of the pesto ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  Taste to check the seasonings and add salt and pepper accordingly.
2. Heat a pan over medium high heat.  Dry the scallops off with a paper towel then liberally salt both sides.  Once the pan is hot, spray with cooking spray (you can use oil or butter if you prefer) then add in the scallops.  Cook for 2-3 minutes per side until white and no longer opaque then remove from the pan.  To the same pan the scallops were cooked in, add the butter and garlic over low heat.  Stir to incorporate the leftover browned yummy bits from the scallops with the butter and garlic.  Once the garlic has cooked down, add in the parsley then top the scallops with the pan sauce.  Serve immediately.