Seared Scallop Salad

This post has been in my "drafts" folder for almost a week, but I didn't want to post it because I felt like I owed you guys an at least somewhat sweet recipe, since my last dessert was in March! But, with that out of my system, I am equally excited about this seared scallop salad.

And for you to fully appreciate this salad, I have to tell you a very cute story. It involves the farmer's market, and an adorably hungry dog. Now, the fish stand at our farmer's market is so popular that if you show up anytime after about 11 am, the only things left are scallops, mussels and cod. All of which I like! But it sometimes hurts to see their whiteboard of delicious fish options, 90% erased by the time I make my way down to Union Square.

But, as I was waiting on line one Saturday, suddenly this dog in front of me got up on its back paws and pressed his little nose up to the front of the fish case. As the poor owner was trying to get the (rather large) dog to pry its face away from the plastic divider, the man behind the counter plucked a scallop out of his bowl, and tossed it to the dog, who greedily chomped it down. Too cute! And, I thought to myself, "if that dog can get that excited about scallops, then I can find something really lovely to do with them (that does not involve eating them raw in one bite)."

I decided to try some of the artisan greens that were available, and they were very different from what I expected! Corn shoots, which are the long, straight, very light greens in the salad, were intensely flavorful and just burst in your mouth -- different from any lettuce I've ever eaten. The other greens in the salad are white pea greens, pea shoots, and buckwheat greens, and there are some sunchokes thrown in because you know how much I love them.

In other news, I am very excited to announce that two blogs that I like a lot have given me awards (although I feel like I don't deserve them after steering two people astray with the muffin/large loaf debacle)! Elle and Sarah have given me, respectively, the "E for Excellent" and "Blogging with a Purpose" blogging awards! Which means that I get to pass them on -- and honestly, there are too many wonderful food and cooking blogs out there to choose from, and new ones popping up all the time! But here are a few of the blogs whose entries I am always excited to see:

Seared Scallop Salad

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound large scallops

2 tbsp olive oil

2 sunchokes, peeled and chopped into matchstick slices

1 pound mixed artisan greens (I used corn shoots, pea shoots, white pea greens, and buckwheat greens)

2 tsp mustard

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Salt and pepper the scallops and set aside.

2. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil until nearly smoking. When pan and oil are hot. add scallops to the pan, being careful not to overcrowd them. Sear for about 2 minutes per side, turning once. Don't move them around when they're on the pan, except to flip them once!

3. Remove the scallops from the pan and set on a paper towel to cool.

4. Whisk together mustard, vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper, as desired. Dress the greens and sunchoke slices with the dressing and set them onto plates. Place the scallops on top of the greens, about 4 or 5 scallops per plate.

Serves four, as an appetizer.