We always stay in on New Years Eve. I make a nice dinner and we watch a movie, maybe fall asleep on the couch. Around 11:30 we turn on "Dick Clark's New Years Rocking Eve featuring Ryan Seacrest" and pop open the good champagne and ring in the New Year. This year it was the beginning of the recipe challenge.
This recipe came from a cookbook my mother had that was published by a restaurant called Blue Stove. Blue Stove serves the most delicious small plates I have ever had. Blue Stove is located in the middle of Nordstrom in the Burlington Mall in Burlington, MA. That's right. A nice, hip restaurant in the middle of the juniors department in a department store in the middle of the mall! Who would have thought? This dish is my mother's favorite from the restaurant and is the first time I have ever cooked scallops. Not as easy as you may think.
It took a little while for the risotto to be done, and my arm was tired from all that stirring, but it was worth it. It was fantastic.
The recipe says it makes enough for 4 for a main dish or 6 for an appetizer. I agree that the risotto made enough for that, but I made 6 scallops and we could have each happily eaten another one. I'd say if you're making it for two people, keep the number of scallops at 8, but cut the risotto amount in half, unless you want lots of leftovers. If you're making it for four people, you may want to make more scallops.
Lemon Scented Risotto with Seared Scallops and Green Beans - taken from the Blue Stove cookbook
6oz small green beans trimmed and cut in half
6 c chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion chopped
2 c arborio rice
1/2 c dry white wine
1/2 c fresh grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tbs unsalted butter
Salt & pepper
8 very large sea scallops, side muscle removed, patted dry
3 tbs fresh lemon juice (I didn't measure this. I just used the juice of one lemon.)
Bring med saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat, add beans and cook about
1 min. Drain, rinse under cold water, and pat with paper towels.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat 450. Bring broth to a simmer in saucepan
over medium high heat, reduce to low to keep warm.
Heat 2 tbs oil in deep wide saucepan or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the onion
and cook, stirring occasionally until translucent, about 3 min. Add rice and stir until
kernels are covered with oil and rice feels heavy in the spoon, about 2 min. Add wine
and cook, stirring occasionally until wine has almost evaporated.
Add 1/2 c hot broth to rice and cook, stirring frequently, until rice has almost completely
absorbed. Adjust to medium low to keep risotto at steady slow simmer.
Continue adding broth, 1/2 c at a time, stirring until the broth is almost completely
absorbed before adding the next addition and 1/4 c for final addition. After about 18 min
the rice grains should be creamy, plump and cooked through but still slightly chewy.
If you run out of broth before this, use hot water. (I just used more broth. I needed about 1/2 c more than the recipe called for) Stir in 1/2 c Parmesan along with butter.
Season with salt and pepper
About 5 min before risotto is finished, heat remaining 2 tbs oil in large ovenproof skillet over medium high heat until very hot, but not smoking. Season scallops with salt and pepper on both
sides. Add scallops, flat side down, to skillet. Cook until undersides are browned,
about 1.5 min. Turn and brown other side about 1.5 min longer. Scatter green beans
over and around scallops and place skillet in oven and cook until barely opaque when
pierced in the center with the tip of a small knife and beans are heated trough 2-3 min.
Season lightly with salt and pepper set aside.
Just before serving, stir remaining 1/5 c broth and lemon juice into risotto. Season
divide evenly among warmed shallow bowls. Top with equal amount of scallops and
green beans. Serve hot.
I finished the risotto and then cooked the scallops. It was ok to leave it for the 5 minutes you need to make the scallops. Especially since you stir in that last bit of broth at the end. I also used the zest from the lemon to garnish the plates and make it pretty.
This dish was delicious. It was much lighter than we thought it would be, but filling. It was a perfect way to ring in the new year. As I said, we could have eaten more scallops and had to stop ourselves from eating all the risotto. A couple of the scallops were a bit overcooked. They are very delicate and it is hard to know when they are done. I left them in for a minute longer than the recipe called for and it was just too much. They still tasted good, the texture was just not quite right. We drank a bottle of dry white wine with this. It paired perfectly.
Then we opened the bubbly.
Happy New Year!
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