Teeny Tiny Scallops!

September 4, 2009 2:04 PM

What do I do with these tiny scallops?

I purchased some "petite sea scallops" from the store yesterday. They are quite small -- maybe around 1/2" in diamter and 1/2" thick. Sort of like oversized pencil erasers.

Anyway, I've been searching online for a good recipe to use these in for hours, but nothing is really pinging me as "wow, I need to make that", or else assumes that I'm using the more traditional large scallops.

Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to use these?

posted by hippybear to Food & Drink (16 answers total)

I've made Mark Bittman's tortillita recipe with little scallops before and it was quite tasty.
posted by pluckemin at 2:07 PM on September 4, 2009

My wife sometimes puts them in fried rice.
posted by Quonab at 2:09 PM on September 4, 2009

Tiny scallops are often sweeter. Great in ceviche.

Or you can just sear them like normal (note: requires care, takes a teeny amount of time on each side) and stick em on top of a salad.
posted by shownomercy at 2:23 PM on September 4, 2009

Marcella Hazan recommends buying the smallest scallops you can find (and do not overcook them!) for the following appetizer recipe:

Sautéed scallops with garlic and parsley

1/2 lbs fresh bay scallops, 2 tbsp evoo, 1 tsp garlic chopped fine, 1 tbsp parsley chopped fine, 1 tbsp chopped capers, 2 tbsp chopped roasted peppers, 1 1/2 tbsp fine, dry, unflavored bread crumbs, salt, freshly ground black pepper, 4 scallop shells or gratin dishes

Wash scallops in cold water, drain, pat dry with kitchen towels. Heat olive oil and garlic to medium in a small saucepan, cook & stir until garlic is no darker than pale gold. Add scallops, salt, a few grindings of pepper, turn up heat. Cook at brisk pace, stirring, for a few seconds until they lose their raw shiny color. Turn off heat.

Preheat broiler. Add parsley, capers, peppers, 1 tbs bread crumbs to the scallops, mix well and distribute contents among 4 shells or gratin dishes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tbsp breadcrumbs. Run gratin dishes under preheated broiler for 1 minute or no longer than it takes to form a light brown crust. Serve promptly.
posted by halogen at 2:23 PM on September 4, 2009 [5 favorites]

Here is Hazan's recipes for Scallop sauce for pasta,
posted by halogen at 2:27 PM on September 4, 2009

I eat a lot of these — they're the most sustainable scallop option. Try this:

Chiles Relleno con ESCALLOPOS
- Roast four pasilla peppers, cool, and remove the burned papery skins.
- Clip out the tops, stems and seeds, and discard.
- Stuff with scallops, prepared spanish rice, and cubed enchilado cheese (or pepper jack, or Asadero if you can get it, or any other mild Mexican cheese
- Bake for 20 minutes or so at 350, till warmed through (the scallops are ok to eat raw, just get them somewhere between hot and cheesy-melty but not overcooked, and you'll be alright)
- Top with salsa and a little sour cream.

I also love them tossed in pasta with olive oil, pepper, fat shreds of parmesan cheese, sauteed cubes of zucchini, soft, carmelized onions and softly cooked tomatoes or bell peppers.

Also, you can just mix them up with mayonnaise and hot sauce (sri racha or "rooster" sauce) and top with tobiko, masago or a little parmesan cheese, and bake in a ramekin or a scallop shell. This is called "dynamite" in Japanese restaurants around here. Add any other seafood too, if you have it. Green mussels, shrimp... it's all good.

Another baked scallop option is to top with chopped garlic, butter, pepper, parsley and brad crumbs.

You could modify that last one into a tasty pasta bake, as well.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:55 PM on September 4, 2009

by tobiko, I meant bonito flakes. whoops!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:59 PM on September 4, 2009

Ceviche!
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:57 PM on September 4, 2009

I cooked wee Bay scallops for a friend recently.

Lightly sprinkle with soy and mirin, then sear them very fast in a very hot pan. Put to one side.

Cook some udon per package directions.

In a large pan, toast a lot of (1cup or more) black sesame seeds. Add a little veg oil (sesame oil would be overkill), a tiny bit of garlic, a tiny bit of ginger. As soon as those are cooked, toss in the udon and the scallops and some very finely grated lemon zest. Serve.

(If you're interested, that was served after a fish consomme heavily infused with star anise, with a single grilled shrimp for garnish)
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 7:24 PM on September 4, 2009

Shallot and a little garlic in butter, add the scallops, cooked until mostly white, add a tablespoon or two of vermouth, half a pint of heavy cream, toss with cooked fettuccine until thickened, plate with a little parsley on top and a glass of chardonnay, a little bread.


But I'm planning on an early heart attack, so what do I know.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:56 AM on September 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow. Lots of great suggestions. It's such a shame that I was opening the package of tiny scallops and dumped them all over the long-overdue-for-a-mopping kitchen floor which prompted my housemate to say I should throw them away rather than try to wash and cook them. *pout*

I will save all these wonderful recipes for the next time I get a package of these, which shouldn't be too far into the future.
posted by hippybear at 3:18 PM on September 5, 2009

Heh. I would have washed them good and cooked them anyway. Then you wouldn't have to share with your housemate!
posted by FuzzyVerde at 5:15 PM on September 5, 2009

You fail at scallops, bear. And yeah.. at home? Not worried about any major health concerns? Give 'em a rinse and have at it. (NB: food touches the floor in the kitchen where I work--any kitchen I will ever work at in the future--it gets tossed (which in our case means it becomes food for happy fat piggies who later become our bacon). But at home is different.)
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 7:36 PM on September 5, 2009

Is your kitchen floor covered in plutonium?
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:02 AM on September 6, 2009

Response by poster: It was a total fail all around, I admit. But believe me, our kitchen floor doesn't get the attention it needs on a regular basis. Just picking all the cat hair off the spilled food would have taken ages, and I don't even know what some of the bits that were stuck to them might have been.

In the good news department, I have now mopped and can once again have minimal confidence that if I drop something I can rinse and use it. For a little while, anyway.
posted by hippybear at 3:09 PM on September 6, 2009

I feel your pain.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 6:07 AM on September 7, 2009