Cape Cod bay scallops in a butter-vermouth sauce

By John, 21 November, 2023
Region
New England
Description

"Bay scallops in a butter-vermouth sauce"There's bay scallops and there's Cape Cod or Nantucket bay scallops. You can get great quantities of Chinese farmed bay scallops for an economical price, but their flavor is decidedly ho-hum. The local ones are sweet and wonderful and every bit worth the price, even if you get just a quarter-pound to put over rice or pasta. This recipe works well for that, or as a decadent appetizer.

Yield
2 Servings
Cooking time
10 minutes
Ingredients
4 T Butter (Unsalted)
8 oz Cape Cod bay scallops
4 fl oz Dry Vermouth (A good one, like Martini and Rossi, or Cinzano )
Instructions
  1. In a small skillet over moderate heat, melt the butter until the foam subsides.
  2. Add the scallops and stir them around so they each get well drenched in hot butter.  They will let out their own juices to flavor the butter.
  3. Stir in the vermouth. Let it steam for a while. When the scallops are as done as you like, take them out with a slotted spoon into a small warm dish.
  4. Reduce the sauce to a thick brown gravy. Use this to dress the scallops for serving. 
  • If you need to stretch the sauce to go with pasta or rice, use equal parts butter and dry vermouth and reduce it to a good thickness. 
Notes

The same recipe will work with the farmed Chinese scallops. This may be a cost effective way to nail down the technique before splurging on the local scallops, but do try it with the local scallops, there's no comparison!