Brown Butter Scallops with Fresh Corn Polenta
Plus: I'm very confused about how many scallops I'm supposed to eat???
Y’all,
Let me just start by saying that Hunzi declares this “one of the best things you’ve ever made”(!) High praise indeed.
While developing this recipe, I discovered that pretty much all the scallop recipes on the major recipe sites call for a pound of sea scallops for a recipe that, allegedly, serves 4 people. This roughly breaks down to 3 scallops per person. I KNOW I know these recipes call for “large” sea scallops (as opposed to the punier tater tot-size bay scallops), but I don’t understand. Who eats 3 scallops for a meal? Are these recipes all meant to be served as an appetizer? Is this a dinner party for ants? Should I feel weird for eating 7 or 8 or 9 scallops????? (I refuse to feel weird for eating 7 or 9 or 9 scallops, world of professional recipes be damned.)
I feel this “serving size” agita often when reading recipes. Whenever I follow a shrimp or pasta recipe to spec, for example, there never seems to be enough food for the number of people the recipe purports to serve. Is this just a me problem?
Anyway, no matter how many people you make these ‘lops for (sorry, we call scallops ‘lops around these parts), they will all be very happy and feel very lucky. And, given how frickin’ expensive and sometimes hard to find nice sea scallops can be, I should note this recipe would also be wonderful with sautéed shrimp, or butter-roasted fish, or seared mushrooms.
If you haven’t had it before, fresh corn polenta—essentially blitzed fresh corn cooked until creamy and starchy—is the stuff of a corn-lover’s dream. There’s no cream or milk, just a little butter to amplify the sweet natural corn flavor and some mild white miso, which acts a bit like an anchovy hiding in a good tomato sauce: sneaky, almost undetectable, but makes the whole pot taste undeniably better.
Here’s my favorite (sad) corn fact: It starts to lose sweetness the moment it’s picked. If your corn is past its prime, add a half-teaspoon of sugar (or more) to the pot as the polenta cooks to add back that sweet oomph. Also, I always buy corn according to how heavy it looks for its size and this strategy has yet to fail me. (If any of this is interesting to you, see here for a wealth of actually-super-useful corn advice that my dear friend Sarah Jampel wrote and I edited four aka a billion years ago. Favorite line: “Check out even more ideas for how to help a blah brother out.” Classic Sarah.)
Eat corn while the sun shines, or something! See you all next week!
—Chaey