Scallops With Sorrel Butter

By Melissa Clark

Scallops With Sorrel Butter
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
5(544)
Comments
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Sorrel is a wonderfully pungent, tart spring green that takes well to rich and sweet ingredients. Here, it’s melted into a garlicky, buttery pan sauce and served with seared scallops. One thing to note: as sorrel cooks, it dims from bright green to olive drab in color. But a garnish of chives – with the chive blossoms if you can get them – will perk things up considerably. If you can’t find sorrel, you can make this dish with watercress or spinach, though you may need to add a squirt of lemon juice at the end to balance the flavors.

Featured in: Taking Advantage of Sorrel’s Brief Life

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Ingredients

Yield:2 to 4 servings
  • 3tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1pound sea scallops, patted dry
  • Kosher salt and black pepper, as needed
  • 1garlic clove, minced
  • 1tablespoon dry white vermouth or white wine
  • 4ounces sorrel (about 3 cups loosely packed), stems removed
  • 2tablespoons chopped chives
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

173 calories; 9 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 15 grams protein; 468 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in skillet. Season scallops with salt and pepper; place in pan in a single layer. Cook without moving until bottoms are golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not turn. Transfer scallops to a plate.

  2. Step 2

    Return pan to medium heat. Add garlic and cook 10 seconds. Stir in vermouth and scrape up any browned bits from bottom of pan. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the sorrel; season lightly with salt and pepper.

  3. Step 3

    Return scallops to pan, seared side up. Continue cooking until sorrel is a dark olive green and falling apart and scallops are just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle in chives and serve.

Ratings

5 out of 5
544 user ratings
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Comments

Bill

In what seems to be a deviation from the norm, I prepared the recipe exactly as you see it here. It was absolutely delicious!

Thanks!

Gary

Outstanding dish and easy to prepare also. We have sorrel in the garden and it's available pretty much year-round here (Oregon). The only thing I would change is to sear the scallops on both sides before adding the garlic, sorrel and wine, and then add the scallops back at the end. The sorrel in the pan makes it hard to completely sear the scallops on the other side.

Pat Brownlie

Could not find sorrel on one of the days I made this so I used watercress. It was fine with the watercress.

Jane

"Searing Scallops, Skip the Flip Salmon isn’t the only seafood that benefits from cooking on one side only; so do sea scallops. Heat a pan until wickedly hot. Add a slick of oil, then your well-dried sea scallops (make sure they’re not touching one another). Cook for two minutes, add some butter to the pan, letting it melt. Baste the scallops until the tops firm up and turn less translucent, one to three more minutes. You can add other seasonings to the butter (garlic..)." Melissa Clark 10MAY23

Alan

My wife is allergic to shellfish so after making this when she was traveling I made it this time with rockfish. Worked like a charm.

Anne Rabe

Really delicious. Added a bit more garlic and used a spicy greens mix with spinach, baby chard and arugula because I couldn't find sorrel. Wilted this well before re-adding the scallops to finish cooking. Served over buttery basmati rice (so didn't add the extra butter to the scallops at the end of cooking). A good splash of Meyer lemon juice was perfect.

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