Scallops have a wonderful way of absorbing and enhancing flavor profiles. Fat, Salt, and Acid all play a part and harmonize in this wonderful dish, thanks to harissa and chimichurri, without losing sight of the silky texture we all love about scallops.

Ingredients

• 10-12 large scallops

• Spicewalla or other brand harissa spice

• 1 stick unsalted butter

• ½ cup finely chopped shallots

• 5 cloves of garlic, crushed/minced fine

• 1 Thai green chili minced

• ¼ cup red wine vinegar

• ½ tsp shawarma spice

• ½ tsp za’atar

• salt

• black pepper

• 1 cup chopped parsley

• ½ cup of olive oil

Instructions

• To make the chimichurri, place the shallots, garlic, green chili, shawarma spice, za’atar, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Pour red wine vinegar over this and let sit for 5 minutes. Then add the chopped parsley and place in a small blender container. Pulse 2-3 times, before adding the oil. Stir and adjust seasonings as needed.

• To make the brown butter, place the stick of butter in a pan on medium low heat and melt. Once the butter is melted, stay close, stirring often. You will first see the butter beginning to foam as the milk solids rise to the top. Keep stirring, watching for the butter to change color. Once you notice the color becoming more golden, you may want to remove it from the heat so it doesn’t burn. Let cool slightly, then pour the browned butter into a container and refrigerate if not using right away.

• To make the scallops, first rinse and pat them dry with a paper towel. Then sprinkle as much of the harissa spice as you want on all sides of the scallops. Heat a pan to medium high and add enough brown butter to coat the bottom of the pan.

• Place a single layer of scallops, making sure to not have them touch each other in the pan. Let them sit undisturbed for 2 minutes so that they get a golden crust on one side before gently flipping them over to cook for an additional minute on the other side. Generously add more brown butter if needed to spoon over the scallops. Remove the scallops from the pan so that they don’t overcook.

•  To plate, either spoon some chimichurri over the scallops, drizzling on more melted brown butter to finish or add the chimichurri to the center of a plate, placing the scallops on top, finishing with the melted brown butter. 

Recipe and Styling by Veda Sankaran/ Photography by Dave Bryce