Teriyaki Ginger Seared Scallops Salad with an Agave Lemon Vinaigrette

Seafood lovers, prepare your taste buds for the best scallops you've ever had! One of my favorite seafoods are scallops. If you sear them just right, they melt in your mouth. You can add a variety of marinades and can add scallops to multiple dishes such as salads, pastas, or ever eat them alone. 

For this recipe, I had gone to the local fisherman's market and purchased some scallop 'splits'. 'Splits' are not whole scallops, but rather halves, which are still a generous size. My boyfriend came to visit and we both love to cook, so we decided to create seared scallops over lettuce for dinner. We both enjoy a salty/sweet combo so we created a teriyaki ginger marinade. 

Teriyaki Ginger Marinade

Ingredients:

(yield: 1.5 lbs)

• 3/4 cup of low sodium teriyaki marinade sauce
• minced fresh ginger (as much as you'd like)
• 1 tbsp of agave nectar
• 1 tbsp of water (depends on how thick/thin you would like the marinade to be)
• pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Whisk all of these ingredients together and then your marinade is ready to go. Drizzle some olive oil into your pan and have the heat level on a medium high so you get the oil really hot (when the scallops are placed, the oil will start spitting -- this is a good temp). Once you soak up the excess water from the scallops with a paper towel, it's time to dunk them into the marinade and them put them over a hot pan to get a nice sizzlin' sear.

When searing scallops, it's important to keep a close watch and turn them each on all sides to get an even sear. They cook fast and you don't want to over cook them because an over cooked scallop tastes gummy and unappetizing.

Salad

Ingredients:

• lettuce, mixed greens or spinach
• 1 avocado (sliced)
• 1 peach

I assembled some baby spinach onto two dinner plates (can add as much as you want). I cut the avocado in half, took out the pit, scooped out each half whole and then thinly sliced the avocado half. Each avocado half goes on to each salad. I took a peach and diced it up, adding even amounts to each salad. Leave room clear in the center of the salad for the seared scallops :)

Rob and I thought about what kind of dressing would be fitting for this meal. We didn't want anything to take away from the sweet flavor of the scallops. Here's what we came up with...

Agave Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 2 fresh squeezed lemons
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
• salt and pepper to taste

Once the scallops are finished, place them in the center of the salad and drizzle the agave lemon vinaigrette on top of it all. Enjoy this favorite dish of mine!