Seared scallops in a pesto reduction on mashed chive and miso potatoes, with a tomato mugwort confit.
Got my Asian Veggie haul this weekend and felt like spicing up my Monday with something a little fancier than usual.
I let my Hokkaido scallops air dry in the fridge while I boiled five small russet potatoes for my mash and put the confit on the stove. The tomatoes were a collection of cocktail tomatoes from the farmer's market and from my delivery, and I let the bigger ones cook down first with half a sweet onion and three cloves of garlic along with a few glugs of good olive oil. The mugwort was foraged from Fort Tilden on Saturday, on a walk with Marie to the beach.
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| halfway done |
When all the liquid cooked down and began to stick to the bottom of the pot, I deglazed with 1/4 cup of sake and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. A crank of black pepper and that's all it needs.
When the potatoes can be poked through with a fork, strain and let them air dry while you throw in a tsp of butter and miso paste into the bowl you'll be mashing them in. I keep the skins on because I like the texture. Smoosh until all big pieces are gone then add 1 tsp of heavy cream or half and half. Add more if if you prefer your mashed potatoes to have a runnier consistency, then incorporate the chives.
For the scallops, get a cast iron ripping hot with enough oil to coat the bottom. Season your air-dried scallops with pepper and salt. Cook them one minute on the first side and then when you flip them, throw 2 tsps of pesto in the pan and give them another minute. Remove the scallops and then add a splash of sake in the pan to remove all the brown bits, then turn off the heat and let a pat of butter melt in the residual heat, stirring and scraping all the good stuff off there.
Serve on a bed of mash potatoes and spoon that pan sauce on top. Add a slick of confit on the side, which should be acidic but sweet enough to cut through the rest of the dish.
Lunch is served.
