Many of us have seen and even have beads made of beautiful convex shells. But few people know that these shells belong to mollusks called scallops. Gourmets really appreciate their meat. Until recently, their world population was on the verge of extinction due to the rapid spread of brown algae in the 90s of the 20th century - a natural enemy of the mollusk. However, the number of scallops has now been restored. Those mollusks that are sold in stores are grown on special farms. Experts argue that the "domesticated" seafood meat is sweeter and more tender than those that were caught in the ocean. Read how to cook scallops in this article.
These seafood are sold refined, in vacuum bags of shock freezing. Therefore, they must first be brought to room temperature. Do not put them in the microwave in the “Defrost” mode. Let the process be longer, but the product will not lose its taste. Put the bag in cold water for approximately 40 minutes. But keep scallops at room temperature too long should not be too - mollusks will become watery. In a word, while seafood is thawing, you have time to think about how to cook scallops.
Some foodies love to eat these shellfish raw. Seafood extracted from shells is lightly salted, pepper and sprinkled with olive oil. And to make the taste even more tender, they are pre-marinated. How to do it? How to cook scallops in a marinade? As easy as pie! Add balsamic vinegar, salt and spices (thyme, basil, rosemary, pepper, dill) to olive oil. In such a “bath”, mollusks cut into thin plates should swim for at least an hour.
Now consider the various methods of heat treatment of these seafood. They are cooked in slightly salted water for a very short time, literally three to four minutes. Ready-made scallops, the photos of which you see, should lose transparency and gelation. Often boiled seafood is used as an ingredient for salads or sushi. If you have a whole pack of them, you can also cook a main dish from them - for example, put out. Fry the finely chopped onion until golden, add a spoonful of tomato paste. In a skillet with high edges or in a saucepan, put scallops to the onion, pour water with aromatic herbs and spices, simmer under the lid until cooked. Garnish with mashed potatoes.
How to cook grilled scallops ? To do this, gently scrub the raw scallops with vegetable oil so that they do not dry out and turn out juicy. It is also necessary to grease the grill grate so that the mollusks do not stick to it. In a frying pan, they are generally easier to cook: put them in preheated vegetable oil so that they do not touch each other. Frying for two minutes on each side will be quite enough, even if the middle of the mollusks remains slightly “glass”.
But if we decided to use these seafood as part of other hot dishes - soups, paella, risotto - then how to cook scallops in this case? After all, there is some difficulty: rice and vegetables are boiled for a long time, while shellfish - 2-3 minutes. And the longer you cook seafood, the more “rubber” they become. Therefore, you need to add them to the main dish only five minutes before its full readiness. You should also take into account the fact that reheated scallops completely lose their valuable sweetness.