Don’t wait for a special occasion to make these wonderful Pistachio Crusted Scallops on Brown Butter Mashed unless your special occasion happens to be “because it’s Tuesday”. This easy recipe uses just a few great ingredients to create an elevated weeknight meal for you and your family.
What makes this dish a weeknight candidate? Let’s start with the Brown Butter Mashed, we’ve all made mashed potatoes, and in this recipe you are simply making mashed potatoes with brown butter, super easy! The scallop preparation is no different than pan frying any other type of breaded fish, and they take only minutes to cook. Both recipe elements are probably something you’ve already done, so get started and surprise your family tonight.
In this recipe I used scallop size 15 per pound, but feel free to use bigger if you can find them and adjust the cooking time accordingly. Because I live in the Alberta foothills “fresh seafood” is a relative term. It’s usually “freshly unthawed” for me, as the primary choice of fresh seafood is a half an hour drive and quite expensive and even then I question the label “fresh”. While I am not promoting frozen seafood, it is at times all I can get my hands on with relative ease. For those of you living in coastal communities I would expect you to delight in a recipe like this and use local fresh seafood. Yes, I’m jealous, but hey, I live in prime beef country!! We’ll talk about that later.
Recipe Source: Compelled To Cook
- 1 3/4 pounds white potatoes peel and cut into uniform chunks
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1/2 cup raw unsalted shelled pistachios roasted will work
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- pinch white pepper
- 18-20 ounces scallops Size 15 per pound or lower
- 1 large egg whisked with 1 Tbsp of water
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- In a small sauce pan over medium heat melt butter until foamy. Continue to heat until milk solids start to brown, swirling or stirring often. Once they start to brown remove from heat as they will continue to brown slightly off the heat. Set aside.
- In a large pot cook potatoes in salted water until fork tender, approximately 20-25 minutes depending on size. Drain well and return to low heat to dry slightly. Mashed until smooth. Add 4 Tbsp of brown butter, sour cream, milk, salt and pepper and mash until well combined and smooth. Keep warm over low heat.
- While potatoes are cooking prepare the coating by combining pistachios, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in a mini food processor or grinder. Pulse until small crumbs form and transfer to shallow dish. Set aside. Whisk egg with 1 Tbsp of water, set aside.
- Preheat a medium size non stick sauté pan over medium low heat, add oil. Dunk one flat side of scallop into egg wash and then into pistachio bread crumb mixture, pressing lightly to adhere coating. Place coating side down in pan, repeat with remaining scallops. Cook for 3 minutes, adjusting heat to attain a golden brown colour on coating. Using a flat spatula turn scallops and continue to cook for an additional 2-3 minutes or until an internal temperature of 160℉ is reached.
- Place a bed of brown butter mashed onto plate and top with 3-4 scallops, drizzle with brown butter and serve immediately.
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