Pan Seared Scallops with Citrus Mojo Vinaigrette

If you haven't already, you must check out www.skinnytaste.com. It's a fantastic blog with lots of healthy recipes and lovely pictures that has been around for several years. I've found many great recipes on this blog, and tonight was a new one involving one of my favorites - scallops!

This original recipe was meant to be a salad, but I just used the scallop portion with the dressing, and paired it with asian green beans (also from skinnytaste.com).

The green beans can be found on an earlier blog post from me. The scallops were very light with a great citrus zing to it! I was fortunate to find fresh, local scallops today at the store which really made this dish!

Below is my adapted piece of the recipe.

Ingredients (serves 2-3):

3/4 lb (12 oz) sea scallops - this was 10 large scallops in my case

1 tsp unsalted butter

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 navel orange, juiced

1 small clove garlic, crushed

kosher salt and fresh pepper

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

In a small bowl whisk olive oil, juice from half lemon, juice from 1/4 of the orange, crushed garlic, salt and pepper.

Wash scallops and pat dry with a paper towel. Season with salt. Heat a medium size pan on a high flame. When pan is hot, melt butter and place scallops in the pan. Sear without touching them for a few minutes until the bottom forms a nice caramel colored crust. Turn over and cook about another minute while their centers are still slightly translucent (you can check this by viewing them from the side). Be careful not to overcook. When done, drizzle half of the marinade over the scallops in the pan.

Additional dressing can be added as desired on the plate.