For this you will need 750 g of scallops, 1 tbsp. l. dried sherry or rice wine drink, 3 cloves of garlic, 3 tbsp. l. black beans, 1 onion, 3-5 tbsp. l. sunflower or olive oil, 2 tsp. soy sauce, 2 sweet peppers, 2 tbsp. l. potato starch, a little grated ginger and sugar.

Scallops should only be boiled in salted water for no more than 5 minutes. Otherwise, they will lose their original taste and transparency. Take a small saucepan and add water. Boil over high heat.

Make cross-shaped cuts on the scallop and lower them into the water. Don't forget to salt the liquid before doing this. Once they are cooked, place them on a towel and let the excess water drain out of the product. Place the scallops in a bowl and marinate in soy sauce with a little ground black pepper.

While they are steeping, cut the onion and pepper into strips. Place them in a frying pan with oil and fry a little. Don't forget to add salt. Place the mixture in a bowl. Add oil to the pan and simmer the marinated scallops. Add ginger along with them. The process should take 2-3 minutes. Pour sherry or wine into the contents of the dish, stir and place in a bowl.

The sauce in which the scallops were should be mixed with sugar and potato starch. Place beans and finely chopped garlic in a heated frying pan. Simmer for a few minutes, remembering to stir. Then add the scallops with vegetables and pour the sauce over everything. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes. The dish should be served hot.

Sea scallops in boiled sauce

To do this, take 600 g of seafood, 10 raw potato tubers, a few black peppercorns, 4 tsp. butter, 3 tsp. wheat flour, 2 carrots, 3 heads onions, bunch of parsley, 1 tbsp. l. tomato paste, 2 tbsp. l. sunflower oil. Add salt, pepper, sugar, grated paprika to taste.

Boil the scallops. Add parsley and a couple of peppercorns to the water. Pour the finished broth into a separate bowl. Leave the scallops on a platter. Let them cool.

Pour flour into a frying pan with heated oil. Fry, stirring constantly. When it turns yellow, dilute it with broth, add chopped onions, paste and various spices to taste. Cook the sauce for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Then strain it through a colander with small holes. Grind the remaining pieces of food, combine with the liquid base and place back in the pan until it boils. Pour the sauce over the finely chopped scallops. To decorate, sprinkle with various herbs. You can use boiled or mashed potatoes as a side dish.

Seafood plays important role in the human diet. Among the list of seafood that is eaten, one can note a number of shellfish, where scallops act as a healthy and attractive delicacy.

How to choose seafood?

This type of seafood attracts with its meaty texture, as well as its soft and sweet taste, making scallops especially popular among true admirers of fish and other sea creatures. The delicacy stands out for its beneficial chemical composition, where the leading role is occupied by fatty acid Omega-3. In addition, shellfish dishes are quite in demand in dietary nutrition, since seafood has a low-calorie composition, but is an excellent source of protein necessary for the body.

Scallops are a universal seafood product, since they can be used to prepare both first courses and interesting and tasty side dishes and snacks. However, the main nuance in the course of culinary work with this product is the competent selection of the products offered.

Scallops can be purchased in the shell, since such a mollusk lives in water in this form. In addition, already cleaned seafood is sold as frozen fillets.

The shell of scallops, like that of mussels or other mollusks, is not edible, but they eat its white muscle, which is responsible for opening the shell valves. In addition to this part of the sea mollusk, the reproductive glands are also eaten, but less often. In order not to make a mistake when selecting a quality product for cooking at home, you should know that the meat itself will have different shades that range from beige to ivory.

A fresh shellfish without heat treatment has a round shape, its meat is slightly transparent, there are small-sized specimens, as well as larger shellfish, the thickness of which will be within 3-5 centimeters. This product is extremely rare, however, it is in great demand.

When selecting a product when purchasing, you should pay attention to the following points.

• For scallops and other seafood, smell is a fundamental indicator of freshness. Ideally, the mollusk should give off an unobtrusive and sweetish smell of the sea.
• The color of fresh and high-quality scallops cannot be white. If exactly such products are offered on the shelves, we can safely say that the meat was soaked in bleach or another chemical in order to extend the shelf life of the product. Consuming such a product can cause serious harm to health.
• Based on the country of the supplier, you can select the size of the seafood; as a rule, the smallest scallops will be caught near the Chilean coast, while the larger shellfish will be from Scotland or Ireland. But the largest mollusks will be brought from Japan.
• If you purchase frozen goods, it is important to pay attention to the sell-by dates that are stamped on the packaging. The integrity of the packaging is also extremely important, since any violation of the seal will lead to damage to the product.
• As experienced chefs advise, it is correct to buy scallops in the shell. The quality of the product can be determined by the presence of slightly open doors.
• A fresh shellfish, upon mechanical contact with the shell, will instantly close it, which will be evidence that the proposed product is being sold of truly high quality.

How to clean and cut it?

To be a tasty and attractive dish, scallops need proper preparation. They must be thoroughly washed in cool water; in different methods of working with this seafood, you can find a recommendation to remove the white formation on one part of the scallop before cooking. It represents the locking area of ​​the shell. However, its removal is not mandatory. Some scallops are sold with caviar; it looks like a beige bag; you should not throw it away, since the caviar part of the mollusk has an amazing taste.

If you need to remove a mollusk from its shell at home, you should use a knife for convenience; it is inserted into the hole between the shell flaps and drawn lengthwise to cut connective tissue and release the doors. As soon as the shell gives in, you will need to take a thinner and longer knife, deepen it into the shell, make cuts in the tissue where the scallop is attached to the shell and remove it. Using too aggressive methods, trying to open the shell without making cuts in the mollusk tissue, you can simply tear the connecting muscle, so it is better not to use this method.

After cleaning and processing the scallop, you will have to discard almost everything, leaving the creamy muscle and mantle.

How to cook?

There are quite a few recipes for preparing this seafood delicacy, however, the scallop is still more popular in French cuisine, since the chefs of this country were the first to use this seafood for consumption. After purchasing, in order to be guaranteed to serve an appetizing and interesting dish of scallops, you should remember the basic rules for working with them in the kitchen.

• If you plan to cook a frozen product, it should be brought to its normal state before heat treatment only at room temperature. It is prohibited to use boiling water or other aggressive methods of exposure to the product.
• A tasty side dish can only be made from those scallops that have been stored and defrosted in an airtight package; it should be opened only after the seafood has been completely defrosted.
• All heat treatment, regardless of its type, should last only a few minutes, since long exposure high temperatures will turn the tender shellfish meat into a tough and fibrous mass, and the taste of the dish will also suffer.

In a frying pan

An interesting and nutritious seafood side dish is seared scallops. The dish consists of the following components:

• shellfish;
• bacon cuts;
• salt, garlic;
• toothpicks.

To fry foods, you can use a regular frying pan or a grill pan. The algorithm of actions is as follows.

1. Cleaned and defrosted seafood must be cooked without excess liquid on the surface, so it is best to dry each shellfish with a regular napkin before heat treatment.
2. Fry the bacon slices in a frying pan until half cooked. As a rule, 4 minutes will be enough for this; it is important that during initial processing the product does not become crispy.
3. After this, you need to wrap each scallop in fried bacon, salt the products, and fasten them together with a toothpick.
4. You need to fry the shellfish on each side; the time depends directly on the size of the fillet; as a rule, for scallops of medium diameter, 3 minutes will be enough for each edge.
5. Before serving, the dish can be sprinkled with finely chopped garlic. The product goes well with vegetables; if you used a grill pan, you can also fry them before serving.

You can deliciously stew shellfish in a frying pan. The recipe requires the following ingredients:

• scallops;
• tomatoes;
• pepper;
• olive oil;
• lemon;
• spinach;
• salt, spices to taste.

Clams with vegetables are prepared using this technology.

1. The peppers should be cored and cut into small cubes. Also peel and chop the onion.
2. Wash the tomatoes and spinach and cut into small pieces.
3. The vegetable mix is ​​fried in vegetable fat until the products release their juice. After which they can be salted and peppered.
4. Next, scallops are added to the vegetables. In this composition, the dish must be simmered for about 6-8 minutes, occasionally stirring the ingredients.
5. The stewed scallops should be served on a large platter; it is recommended to lightly sprinkle the laid out products with citrus juice, and also garnish with any fresh herbs.

In the oven

A successful combination of seafood would be the use of cream sauce. The dish is prepared quite simply, and a similar side dish can be used to serve at the holiday table. The composition of the side dish includes the following items:

• scallops;
• cream;
• White wine;
• salt and spices;
• oil;
• flour.

The cooking technology consists of the following stages.

1. First of all, you need to prepare the onion, peel it and fry it until tender, after which you need to pour a little wine into the pan, add salt and pepper.
2. Place the scallops in the resulting mixture and fry for two minutes on each side. Remove the clams and transfer to a baking dish in the oven.
3. Then add flour to the marinade from the frying pan, mix the mixture and bring to a boil. Then pour cream into the sauce and remove from the stove.
4. Pour the resulting dressing over the shellfish and place the dish in the oven for baking. The temperature for cooking should be about 220-250 C, the duration of heat treatment is 2-3 minutes.
5. A similar version of scallops can be served with pasta and fresh herbs.

One more delicious recipe Cooking shellfish in the oven will use the following products:

• seafood;
• cabbage;
• lemon;
• olives;
• pickles;
• oil;
• capers;
• tomato paste;
• salt, spices.

Cooking method.

1. First of all, you should fry the seafood with the addition of a small amount of vegetable oil.
2. Then chop the onion and fry it in another frying pan along with tomato paste To dilute the thickness a little, you can add water.
3. The greens should be peeled, cut into slices, and simmered at low temperature with water until they become softer. Then drain the juice and combine the cucumbers with onion-tomato paste and capers. Simmer under a closed lid for about 5-10 minutes over low heat.
4. Pour a little oil into a frying pan with high walls, simmer the cabbage in it, then place it in a baking dish, top it with shellfish, followed by cucumbers and onions.
5. Grate the cheese on a fine grater, sprinkle the food in an even layer and place in the oven for heat treatment at 180 C. Cook the dish until a golden cheese crust forms on top.

Grilled

For a delicious outdoor lunch, grill scallops. The composition of the dish will be as follows:

• seafood;
• lemon;
• salt pepper.

Cooking technology.

• Soak the scallops in water with lemon juice for about 15 minutes. Then spread the product on a towel and let the seafood dry.
• For home grilling, you can use small bamboo skewers, which are pre-soaked in water to prevent them from burning. The scallops are strung on them, after which the product should be salted and peppered.
• Grill seafood for no longer than three minutes. You can check the readiness of the scallop by pressing on it - the fried shellfish will become elastic and without juice. The optimal side dish for the dish would be any fresh vegetable salad or Korean-style vegetables.

In a saucepan

The most popular option for preparing a seafood delicacy is boiling the product. The dish consists of the following ingredients:

• seafood;
• greenery;
• tomato or garlic sauce;
• lemon;
• laurel, salt, spices.

The dish is prepared using this technology.

1. Sea shellfish should be cooked in salted water; it is better to lower the product into already boiling water. Scallops should boil for no more than 3-5 minutes. After time, the product must be cooled and cut into small pieces.
2. In this form, the scallops are poured with lemon juice; you can add pepper and fresh herbs if desired.
3. It is recommended to serve boiled seafood with rice.

Take advantage of valuable culinary advice.

• Scallops after any heat treatment can become a good base for salads and soups. Therefore, seafood dishes can be served together with vegetables, cereals and as first hot courses.
• To improve the taste of scallops, it is recommended to use olive oil, garlic and lemon juice.
• In different world cuisines you can find options for serving shellfish with papaya salsa or ginger.
• For seafood cooked over coals, you can use cherry tomatoes; they will make the presentation more original.

To learn how to cook scallops in creamy sauce, watch the video below.

1. Scallops in oyster sauce

2. Scallops in shells, baked in the oven

3. Scallops baked in garlic sauce

4. Baked scallops in shells with cheese

Scallops are a member of the mollusk family. Like most representatives of this species, the scallop has a shell. In most cases, it is sold without it, frozen or fresh. However, in restaurants you can see a lot of dishes where scallops are cooked directly in their shells. This can also be done at home. Apart from amazing appearance Sea scallop has wonderful taste. First you need to learn how to cook scallops in the shell. Let's look at the most effective, colorful and simple recipes for preparing this product.

The shellfish contains many useful components, such as vitamins and protein. The whole body of the scallop can be eaten, and the shell serves only as decoration. Scallop fillet is a delicacy in different countries world, including ours. Its taste is reminiscent of tender and melt-in-your-mouth crab meat.

Cooking scallops in a shell requires minimal knowledge and skills. At the same time, the dish turns out to be unusual and very nutritious. Scallops are boiled, fried, marinated, stewed and salted. And there are gourmets who eat this shellfish raw, in combination with olive oil or lemon juice. Read about how to cook in a separate article.

Sea scallops are used as an additive in soup, salad, cutlets, solyanka, aspic, pancakes, pies and even cabbage rolls. To achieve maximum results, you should choose seafood responsibly. A fresh scallop has an elastic body, creamy or pinkish in color. It is important that there are no yellow spots on the surface. Check the mollusk for its smell; it should not be specific, but marine.

Before choosing a method for cooking scallops, you need to defrost them. The bottom shelf in the refrigerator is suitable for this. However, experts advise using milk for defrosting. Scallops are placed in it and the container is left for a couple of hours at room temperature. Do not use a microwave or hot water as there is a risk of spoiling the seafood. Clams in small shells have slightly more tender meat, so it is better to give them preference.

Preparing scallops for appetizers or salads begins with their heat treatment. It is necessary to move apart the shell flaps and remove the body of the mollusk. Before doing this, be sure to defrost the scallops and rinse them. They need to be boiled; to do this, put the pan on the stove and turn on medium heat. When the salted water boils, you can throw in the scallops.

To taste, add parsley root and pepper. The delicacy does not cook for long, about 5 minutes over low heat. Like any other seafood, scallops cannot be overcooked. Readiness can be determined by taste or color - the meat should lose its transparency.

Scallops in oyster sauce

Scallops are widely used in Italian and French cuisine, where they are combined with various sauces. For example, oyster sauce really brings out the flavor of the shellfish. However, it is important to strictly adhere to the cooking technology so that the dish turns out exactly according to the recipe. A recipe for cooking scallops with photos will make the task much easier.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 5 min

· 1 teaspoon sesame oil;

· 1 small clove of garlic;

· 1 tbsp. spoon of vegetable oil;

· 1 teaspoon soy sauce;

· a little sugar;

· 2 tbsp. spoons of oyster sauce.

Processpreparations

Cooking time: 5 min

1. Open the shells and take out the contents.

2. Combine soy sauce with oyster sauce.

3. Add sesame oil and a pinch of sugar. Mix thoroughly until the sugar dissolves.

4. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and add scallops. Fry them together with garlic and ginger.

5. Once the scallops are golden, you can add our sauce mixture. Fry for 30 seconds.

6. The finished dish is sprinkled with herbs and laid out on the shells.

White wine is an excellent accompaniment for scallops. It harmoniously intertwines with the taste palette of the mollusk and significantly improves its quality. This is the easiest way to cook scallops in sauce.

Sea scallops in shells, baked in the oven

Gourmets are attracted to the scallop dish in a shell; the recipe requires special precision and some knowledge. Even the frozen version is suitable for preparing baked clams. When opening the shell, you can see a black stripe on the body of the scallop - this is the intestine, it is better to remove it. This element does not affect the taste, but is a little off-putting from a visual point of view.

Ingredients

12 pcs scallops (in shells);

1 slice of loaf;

60 g butter;

Half a lemon;

Salt;

A few sprigs of parsley.

Scallops are great for a romantic dinner. After all, this product is a kind of aphrodisiac. The effect increases when combined with wine. It should be noted that the product is filling, and after 6-7 pieces and one glass of wine, you don’t feel any heaviness in your stomach at all. Let's look at how to prepare a scallop in the sink; the recipe is not complicated.

Processpreparations

1. Place the shells on a special heat-resistant form. Each shell should contain a piece of butter.

2. Cut the loaf and parsley into small pieces. The lemon is peeled so as not to taste bitter, and the pulp is cut into cubes.

3. Place the oil in a heated frying pan and fry the loaf cubes for a few minutes. Then add salt, parsley, lemon.

4. The oven needs to be preheated to 180 degrees, place the pan with our scallops there for exactly 5 minutes. After removing the shellfish, cover them with the prepared sauce.

5. Return them to the oven for another 2 minutes.

Serve the finished dish with lemon and, of course, white wine or champagne. Enjoy a good evening in good company!

Scallops baked in garlic sauce

Not everyone knows how to properly cook scallops in the oven. So, let's start by removing the mollusk body from the shell. First we need to open the shell, there we will see a cream-colored scallop fillet and, possibly, orange caviar. Everything else needs to be removed and thoroughly cleaned.

Ingredients

Scallops in shells;

Garlic;

Greenery;

Salt and pepper;

Butter.

Processpreparations

1. Place shells with clams on a baking sheet and place in a heated oven for 5 minutes.

2. This time will be enough for the clams to release their juice. It is drained from the shells, and instead, half a teaspoon of creamy garlic sauce is poured into each shell.

3. To prepare this sauce, you need to mix 100 grams of butter, salt and chopped garlic.

4. The shells go into the oven again, this time for 2 minutes.

5. Once removed, the scallop is ready to eat. You can decorate it with herbs, vegetables or cheese.

Now you know how to cook scallops in the shell quickly and effortlessly. The dish is complemented by a side dish and good wine.

Baked scallops in shells with cheese

The process of creating a dish requires some caution and adherence to rules, so we have prepared a recipe for cooking scallops with photos for clarity.

Ingredients

Medium-sized scallops;

1 tbsp. spoon of vegetable oil;

150 grams of hard cheese;

Half a teaspoon ground curry;

Salt and pepper;

Parsley;

Lemon.

Processpreparations

1. We begin work by opening and processing the shells. Before this, the shells need to be thoroughly washed, because they will be useful to us in the future. Place the scallop fillet on a plate.

2. It must first be cleared of juice and various films. Turn the heat to medium and place the frying pan. Pour in olive (sunflower) oil and after a while throw in our clams. Add some salt on top and sprinkle curry sparingly so as not to spoil the taste. Fry over high heat for 5 minutes.

3. Place the finished scallops in a colander; excess oil will drain through it. After that, they are sprinkled with lemon juice and laid out on a tray.

4. Hard cheese should be grated. Parsley is chopped as finely as possible. In a deep bowl, mix melted butter, cheese and herbs. Mix thoroughly until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.

5. Place the convex parts of the shells on a baking sheet, there should be at least 2 cm between them. Place a scallop in each shell, and cover with cheese sauce on top. Place everything in a preheated oven. As soon as a golden crust appears on the cheese, the dish is ready.

Even in ancient times, scallops were consumed; the cooking recipes were slightly different from modern ones. Shellfish were actively caught and even bred artificially in the Roman Empire. Even then, the benefits of this seafood were known. 40% of scallop fillet consists of protein, but 100 g contains no more than 90 kcal. Therefore, the mollusk is prescribed to people suffering from obesity.

The value of this product is difficult to overestimate, because it contains zinc, molybdenum, vitamins, nickel and sulfur. One of the main disadvantages is the high cost of scallops, due to the complexity of its extraction and transportation. It must be borne in mind that only 30% of the total mass of the mollusk is suitable for consumption. Therefore, it is important to know how to cook scallops in the sink so as not to spoil the delicious product.

Read similar articles

Anyone who wants to eat healthy and nutritious food will appreciate recipes on how to fry scallops. The mollusk is caught in Primorye and the Far East; the Japanese and Asians also fish in their countries. The tasty seafood delicacy is low in calories, has a good protein component, and also vitamin complex. Cooked scallop has virtually no fat; the product also contains carbohydrates minimum quantity. The delicacy is prepared by boiling or frying.

Frying scallops

The scallop should not be cooked for a long time, otherwise the meat will be tough. You can deliciously cook fillet in a frying pan. Before you start frying dietary scallops, they are washed using cold running water. All pieces are wiped off with paper towels.

To prepare 400 grams of scallops, you need additional ingredients: butter (30 grams), rice or regular vodka (50 ml), soy sauce (1 or 2 large spoons), olive oil (3 large spoons), green onions (4 feathers) , a little dry herbs, powdered garlic and salt.

The fillet pieces placed in a bowl are sprinkled with a small amount of soy sauce, sprinkled with all the spices required by the recipe and seasoned. Too much seasoning is not advisable; the shellfish has its own natural pleasant taste. The product must lie in the room for half an hour before it can be fried.

The scallop should be fried for as long as the recipe requires, preferably no more than six or seven minutes, so that the product does not harden. It is correct to fry the product in very hot, but not boiling, oil. The frying pan is first greased with a piece of butter, then olive oil is added.

Each side of the scallop is fried for a couple of minutes, this time is enough to get a golden crust. The final step is to pour vodka into the frying pan and set it on fire. An extinguished flame indicates the scallops are ready. The dish laid out on a plate is sprinkled with finely chopped onions.

Tip: Frozen scallops should be left to thaw in advance in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf overnight, or they should lie in a deep bowl in room heat for an hour or two.

When frying a seafood delicacy, they try to ensure that one piece does not touch another. Large quantities are divided into batches and need to be fried one at a time. The food is served hot. Scallop meat has a sweet taste. A combination of creamy, ginger, orange, creamy mushroom sauce, teriyaki and unagi is ideal with fried seafood. As a side dish, the delicacy is best combined with rice and potatoes.

You can fry a scallop using another recipe. The cut seafood delicacy is purchased fresh or frozen. To begin with, prepare the sauce. Soy sauce is mixed with lime juice, crushed garlic and peppercorns are added. Place onion rings or half rings into the marinade mixture.

The scallops are defrosted, washed, dried with paper napkins, and laid out on a plate or board. Pour a small amount of sesame oil into the pan. Once warmed up, place onion half rings in it. Place shellfish meat on top and fry it on each side for three minutes.

The pan is shaken, the products are mixed, after which you need to fry for another minute. Using a slotted spoon, remove the products and place them in a bowl with the marinade; the mixture is infused for ten minutes. The dish goes well with greens and Asian alcohol.

It is delicious to eat fried scallops with rice or funchose (rice noodles). The dish harmonizes with sweet pepper.

You can prepare a seafood delicacy with cream sauce. Prepared shellfish are fried with onions in a frying pan with olive oil. Products are poured onto fried products placed on a dish or in a bowl. cream sauce: a mixture of cream and garlic, salt and pepper are added to taste. The dish can be decorated with sprigs of greenery. For garnish, use boiled potatoes or pickled asparagus and light wine as an aperitif.

Composition of scallops

Scallop meat is taken from dense shells about 20 centimeters in size, which are caught or bred industrially. The flesh of the mollusk is rich in vitamins PP and E, and especially type “B”, in addition: iodine, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, manganese, iron, cobalt, copper. Scallop fillets contain a lot of protein and amino acids (about 20 percent), but few calories; the carbohydrate component occupies 3 percent of the weight of the mollusk, and the fat component is only two percent.

Beneficial features

Chefs and hostesses prepare various dishes from exquisite seafood. For cooking, you can use not all the flesh, but only the adductor muscles and the mantle of the mollusk. Frozen products are sold in cut form, which makes it easier to work with the ingredient.

To lose weight without compromising your health, you need to include scallops in your diet. Nutritious shellfish are also recommended for patients during the post-rehabilitation period to restore strength or in addition to the main treatment.

Shellfish can be consumed by schoolchildren and the elderly to improve their health. Athletes and people who regularly engage in fitness, striving for a muscular, beautiful body, should not ignore the seafood product, especially when they are pre-competitive cutting.

Even residents of places far from the sea and ocean coasts can now treat themselves to delicious seafood dishes. It may not happen so often, but on holidays it certainly does. And many have long discovered the delights of salads, appetizers and other dishes made from sea cucumbers, octopus, scallops, shrimp or mussels. And for those who don’t yet know how to cook scallops, here’s our article with a variety of recipes.

Defrosting rules

Unfortunately, chilled, and especially fresh, seafood is not only inaccessible, but also costs much more than frozen. Therefore, before cooking scallops, you need to defrost them. And this process has its secrets. If you don’t know them or don’t follow them, you can ruin all the taste of shellfish. The easiest way is to put the bag with them in cold water for about thirty minutes (the time depends on the weight of the scallops purchased, they are packaged differently). Neither a microwave, nor heated water, nor heating in an oven (even in the most gentle mode) are suitable. But simply in the air they will defrost for a long time and unevenly. Those who have already mastered recipes for cooking scallops, or even come up with their own, advise gourmets to carefully remove the shellfish from the packaging and put them in water combined with milk (if you don’t mind, 1:1, if you’re saving - 2, or even 3 parts water and only one part milk). Scallops defrost faster in such conditions, and the meat becomes juicy and tender. Immediately after defrosting, you need to start cooking - shellfish quickly lose quality if they lie defrosted.

Frying shellfish

One of the easiest, cheapest and fastest ways to do tasty dish- this is frying. To prepare fried scallops, you will also need olive oil, lemon, salt, sesame seeds and ground pepper. Thawed shellfish need to be washed and dried with a napkin, and then seasoned with salt and pepper. Then they are put in a deep plate and hidden in the refrigerator to marinate the scallops. The recipe advises doing this for about 20 minutes. During this time, the sesame seeds are dried in a dry frying pan with constant stirring. Attention! The seeds quickly begin to burn, so you need to watch carefully. The marinated scallops are browned - also in a dry frying pan - then laid out on a dish, sprinkled with lemon juice, sprinkled with pepper and sesame seeds - and welcome to the table.

Marinated scallops

A very easy and tasty dish to prepare is scallops, used as an appetizer. Fresh or defrosted clams are placed in a deep cup or bowl, filled with soy sauce (classic is best), into which a few drops of sesame oil are poured. Those who like it spicy can also stir wassabi into the sauce. It is enough to marinate the scallops in this mixture for ten minutes, after which the appetizer is served.

Scallop with potatoes

If you are wondering how to cook scallops as a complete second course, try the following recipe. Take 350 g of shellfish meat, one egg, 4 pieces of white loaf, the same number of small potatoes and gherkins. Additionally, you will need 2 tablespoons of flour and 4 starch, plus a tube of mayonnaise, lemon and herbs. Instead of a loaf, you can, in principle, take ready-made breadcrumbs, but the taste can be spoiled by low-quality bread from which they are made. So it’s safer to cut the loaf into pieces, dry it in the oven and grind or crush it. Scallop meat is washed, dried, cut into strips and breaded: first in flour, then in egg, and then in breadcrumbs. Breaded clams are fried in hot oil. Peeled potatoes are cut into strips, sprinkled with starch and fried in portions. On top of the finished dish, laid out on a plate, is decorated with herbs and lemon slices, and mayonnaise with chopped gherkins is served in a gravy boat. Nourishing, tasty and beautiful! And enough for four.

Scallop with mushrooms

Recipes for preparing scallops as a main dish are very varied. Fans of “silent hunting,” for example, can cook shellfish with their catch. To do this, 400 g of chopped mushrooms are fried with chopped garlic and onions in butter, and half a kilo of scallops is fried in olive oil. It takes 3 minutes on each side of the clam. The finished ingredients are combined, mixed so that they are mutually saturated with juices, and laid out on plates lined with lettuce leaves.

Casserole with cheese

It can be made from either frozen or canned shellfish. A 160 g jar is sufficient for the latter; if you take raw ones, make sure to double the amount, as they decrease in volume when cooked. In addition, you will need 120 g of cream, hard grated cheese (a little, 50 g is enough), breadcrumbs and finely chopped parsley (at least a teaspoon, but the amount can be increased).

First, the cream is well heated. The scallops are lowered into them. If you took canned ones, just drain the marinade and cut; if frozen, cook without defrosting, adding a small amount of your favorite spices to the water. After a couple of minutes in the cream, the shellfish are placed in a heat-resistant bowl, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and grated cheese, and then placed in the oven for 15 minutes at 190 degrees. The result is a very appetizing scallop - the photo serves as a vivid illustration.

Scallop boiled in cucumber brine

These shellfish can also be the highlight on the table that needs a side dish. Here's how to cook scallops, served with rice or potatoes, boiled whole or mashed. First, a decoction is made: two onions, carrots and root parsley are thrown into boiling water. They can be placed whole, or they can be cut into large pieces. After 20 minutes, add laurel and peppercorns. Separately, the cucumber brine in the volume of two glasses is boiled for about half an hour, after which it is poured into the broth. Thawed and cut into thin slices scallops are dipped into the resulting liquid, which will be cooked in it for about 10 minutes. When the shellfish are ready, they are taken out and poured with melted butter. If you like fragrant dishes, sprinkle chopped herbs of your favorite herbs on top.

Grilled clams

One of the simplest dishes, as grilled scallops can be prepared quickly, and they are accessible to even the most inexperienced cook. It will take much longer to prepare the appropriate sauce. It consists of a glass of dry white wine, the same amount of wine vinegar and chopped shallots, which must be evaporated over a fire until a tablespoon of liquid remains. Then 100 ml of 33 percent cream is poured in, and the sauce is boiled to half the volume. As it evaporates, butter is added to the future sauce in small pieces (it should be 150 g in the total mass). When everything is ready, put the sauce in a warm place. 16 scallops are brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper. They are baked on the grill for a couple of minutes on each side until opaque and golden brown. All that remains is to place them on a plate covered with sauce, or serve it separately.

Scallops in salad

They combine with so many ingredients. So there are a great many salads made from these shellfish. However, what we liked most was the scallop salad with these ingredients. A large washed orange is cut into slices, and the peel is not removed. 100 g of small cherry tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise. Lettuce leaves (take 150 g of them) are torn by hand into large shreds. 2 large spoons of olive oil mixed with one spoon of cognac are poured into a hot frying pan. 100 g of uncut scallops are placed in a frying pan and quickly fried, no longer than 2 minutes. 4 tablespoons of yogurt are also poured into this (find one that is not fruity, not sweet, and richer), the mixture is sprinkled with pepper and salt. You need to simmer again for 2 minutes, otherwise the shellfish will become tough. On the plate that you will serve, place torn lettuce leaves, tomatoes on them, and between them - scallops stewed in yogurt. The top of the dish is decorated with mint and orange slices. Please note: this salad is only to be consumed warm. When cold, it somewhat loses its aroma and flavor piquancy.

So even if you have not encountered these shellfish before and have a vague idea of ​​how to cook scallops, there is a recipe, don’t worry! There are a huge number of dishes from them, and most of them will suit your taste.