Scallops With Brown Butter and Sage

Fancy seems so out of reach sometimes.  Yes, scallops can be a bit pricey.  Keep in mind though that the rest of the ingredients in this dish are very low cost.  I believe, when I did the math, that the remaining ingredients in this dish came to less than $5.  That is certainly reasonable when you add in the cost of the scallops and divide it by serving.  Here are some of the ingredients we are working with today.

Fresh Sage, Scallops, Lemons, Crimini Mushrooms, Knob Onions and Garlic

You really can use any pasta here.  I had spaghetti, so that is what we are using.  I also used butter, olive oil, clam juice, salt and pepper.  I sliced up some of the whites from the knob onions, added 5 sage leaves, minced garlic, olive oil and a Tbsp of butter to the saute pan.

I sauted these things on medium heat for 6-8 minutes.  Then, I took them out of the pan and set them aside.  

I put a Tbsp of butter, and a Tbsp of olive oil in the pan.  I seared the scallops for about 2 1/2 minutes on each side.  I took them out and put them aside so that they would not overcook.

Now, our veggies are cooked and our scallops are done.  It is time to build the sauce.  I added a stick of butter, zest and juice of a lemon, 1/4 cup of clam juice, salt and pepper to the pan. I stirred the mixture until the butter was a golden brown.  I pulled the hot pasta out of the water and added it directly to the pan.  I added back in the vegetables.  I let this cook for about 10 minutes to marry the pasta to the sauce and veggies.  The starchy pasta has thickened up the sauce.  I diced some of the bright green tops from the knob onion to garnish.

It got some big smiles from my family.