And Now for Something Completely Different: Seared Sea Scallops with Mugwort Citrus Sauce

The soft gentle flesh of the scallop melds with the al dente texture of perfectly cooked pasta; just as the firm peas combine pleasantly with a slightly sweet crunch of steamed carrots. The sauce balances the bitterness of mugwort with the sweetness of citrus notes. The pearl onions add the visual appeal of  edible moonstones hiding in the dish, like moonlight upon the ocean. The meal’s main focus and the delicious sauce, scallops, squid ink pasta and white clam sauce, are then tied together by their common underlying characteristic-the sea.

Seared Sea Scallops with Mugwort Citrus Sauce

• ·         2 large sea scallops per person
• ·         1 Tbs neutral oil, like tea or canola
• ·         1 tsp. sesame oil
• ·         Rice flour for dusting
• ·         1 package tubettini (or other prepared squid ink pasta)
• ·         ½ ounce squid ink
• ·         2 carrots
• ·         1 (10 oz.) bag tender sweet peas
• ·         1 (6 oz.) bag pearl onions
• ·         1 Tbs mugwort
• ·         1 shallot, finely diced
• ·         2 gloves garlic, finely diced
• ·         1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
• ·         1 cup sake (Japanese rice wine)
• ·         1/3 cup sweet mirin
• ·         8 oz. clam juice
• ·         Juice of 1 lemon
• ·         Juice of 1 lime
• ·         Zest of ½ lime
• ·         Juice of 1 orange
• ·         16 oz. fresh chopped clams
• ·         Parsley for garnish, finely minced

Remove the adductor muscle from the fresh scallops, if present and set aside. Use a little oil heated in a skillet to cook the garlic and shallots until tender, about 2 minutes. If the mugwort comes with woody stems, grind it first in a coffee or spice grinder and pass through a sieve so you have a fine powder to add to the sauce mixture. Add the mugwort (if you cannot find use ½ dried oregano and ½ dried parsley), ginger, sake and mirin and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. Add the citrus juices and the clam juice and cook until reduced by about 1/3, then add the clams and cook two more minutes. While the sauce is cooking, peel and thinly slice the carrots. Peel the pearl onions. Place in a pot with salted water, steam until tender and remove. Heat a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Add the squid ink (you can omit this step and just cook regular pasta, the squid ink adds mainly visual appeal). Add the tubettini and cook for 8 minutes, remove and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Combine with vegetables. To finish, heat a little of the neutral oil and sesame oil in a small sauté pan. Lightly dredge each end of the scallop in the rice flour. Wait until the oil is smoking hot. Add the scallops, a few a time so the oil temperature does not drop too much, and sear on each side until golden brown, about two minutes a side. To serve, plate the pasta and vegetable, top with scallop and then sauce and then garnish with parsley.