Post #537522 by amybean on Fri, Jun 18, 2010 8:23 PM

MDM- I have to applaud your Foodventuring!

Three things come to mind about the scallops:

1. In general, marinate fish for 30 min max! If you did overnight, I'd say they were well on
   their way to being ceviche. which is not necessarily a bad thing..

2. ATP is right- pan fry 'em, and also, make sure they are dried off (roll in paper towel) before you
   bread them, using a very fine crumb for scallops that small. The real deal with breading
   is that you can't mess with it while in the skillet- whatever it is that you are frying must cook
   enough to crisp up the crumbs into a coherent shell. Most people have a tendency to want to turn the piece
   too soon, and the coating starts to crack. Once heat and moisture get in there, it'll crumble.

3. Frozen scallops aren't a bad thing- I keep some on hand, and sometimes I thaw them first, but have also
   had good luck with tossing them frozen into a pan with hot garlic and olive oil. If you cook them over a med-high heat til brown on each
   flat end (for large ones) or on 2 sides for the small, you can then turn the heat down to low til they are opaque.
   They don't take long, and the closer you get to not overcooking, the more tender they'll be. Sounds like that pineapple sauce would
   be good to add after the browning.

Let us know how the next batch turns out! And, btw, I totally want to see the quicky spaghetti and freeezy meatballs.