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Lemony Maine Scallop Pasta

Lemony Maine Scallop Pasta

One pound Downeast Dayboat Scallops
6 garlic cloves, minced, grated or pressed
2 lemons, zested and juiced, divided
5 - 6 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (healthy pinch to 1/4 tsp)
one half of a small onion, sliced
1/2 to 2/3 cup white wine
one pound thin linguini
1/4  to 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
optional garnish:
2 tbs butter
grated parmesan

Remove the "sweetmeats" (small, slightly tougher muscle on the side of the scallop) from scallops and set aside.

In a bowl combine scallops with garlic, zest of 1 lemon and juice of 1 lemon, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile make a quick sweetmeat stock: Place sweetmeats and onion in a small pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain into a bowl and discard sweetmeats (or give to your cat) and onion.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat and add a generous amount of salt. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, 2 minutes less than instructed on the package. Drain and set aside.

Heat a skillet over high heat. If you have a very large pan you can cook all the scallops at once, but most will need to cook in two batches. DO NOT CROWD THE PAN: there should be ample room around each scallop so it sears rather than steaming.  Remove scallops from marinade, reserving marinade.  Add scallops to the skillet and sear until they start to caramelize, 2 minutes or so per side depending on size. If cooking in batches remove scallops to a plate and tent with foil.  Cook second batch and add to plate with first batch.  Pour reserved marinade into pan and cook over medium heat for a few minutes, then add sweetmeat stock and wine. Continue to cook until sauce reduces by half. Add parsley, zest and juice of remaining lemon, stir to combine. Add butter if using. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste. Add pasta, cook for several minutes to absorb sauce.  Finally, add scallops and toss to combine. Pour into a serving bowl and serve immediately, garnishing with parmesan if desired.

Adapted from a recipe for lemony shrimp scampi by Food Network's Melissa D'Arabian.

1 comment

  • This was a delicious dish. We will do it again.

    You need to leave enough time for preparation. I thought the garlic might be excessive and dumped about half which was a mistake. We used sweet Meyer lemons (from the back porch pots) and the taste was pure “light” lemon without any trace of sourness. We used your frozen scallops from Ryan Schoppee’s boat Laurie Ann harvested from Cutler Coast. They were uniformly of good size and superb. The friend who shared our meal eagerly sought the name of Downeast Dayboat! :)
    Thanks for all your good work.
    Cheers, Bob Archer

    Robert Archer on

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