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Turn a simple, crunchy salad into a delicious dinner by adding luscious, seared wild sea scallops.
Welcome to my Colorado kitchen!
This series features me, Michelle — a writer and soccer mom from the Rocky Mountains — my husband and two kids, some beautiful Vital Choice seafood, and lots of regular home cooking.
(Click here to learn more about me, below.)
I want to feature the products and preparations you’re curious about.
Have a suggestion? Question? Recipe you want me to test?
Email me and help to shape this series.
Summer calls for light-yet-satisfying meals that make the most of seasonal produce. This recipe absolutely fits the bill!
A simple, Asian-style cabbage slaw, dressed with a light sesame soy vinaigrette, gets an elegant upgrade with silky, seared sea scallops.
Preparation took 30 minutes tops, and getting this dish to the table is more assembly than cooking, so it’s great when temperatures rise.
You simply slice the vegetables, dress with vinaigrette, let that salad rest in the fridge for 10-30 minutes, then sear the scallops for five minutes. Easy!
As written, the dressing recipe is thick enough to cover the slaw evenly, but still quite light and flavorful. If you prefer a richer vinaigrette, just add 1-2 tablespoons more oil.
A few notes from the cook
To add weight — and cost to the consumer – many mass-market scallops are soaked in a phosphate-water solution before being frozen.
Fortunately, all Vital Choice wild sea scallops — Alaskan, Atlantic, and Patagonian — are dry-packed, so you pay only for scallop meat, and get scallops with a firmer, superior texture.
Be careful not to overcook scallops – they’re best when just cooked through, and silky in texture. I recommend searing them on high heat for just 2 minutes a side.
My rating: 4 out of 4 stars
Seared Scallops with Asian-Style Slaw
Serves 2-3
Dressing ingredients
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice (from 2 limes)
- ¼ teaspoon sugar or honey (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon natural soy sauce*
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 3 tablespoons macadamia nut oil (or any neutral-tasting oil, such as high-oleic sunflower oil or non-GMO canola oil)
*Use tamari-style soy sauce if you want soy sauce with little or no wheat.
Salad ingredients
- 4 cups finely shredded or chopped napa (Chinese) cabbage* (about ½ large head)
- 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 medium carrots, grated
- ½ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- ½ cup sliced almonds
*You can substitute savoy cabbage or green cabbage for napa cabbage.
Scallop ingredients
- 1-1¼ lb. Atlantic sea scallops or Alaskan sea scallops, thawed
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 teaspoon organic extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
- To make the vinaigrette, whisk together rice vinegar, lime juice, sugar or honey, sesame oil, tamari and grated ginger. Slowly pour in the oil, whisking to emulsify. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine shredded cabbage, bell pepper, carrots, cilantro leaves, scallions and almonds. Stir to combine. Pour dressing over salad, toss well to coat evenly, then refrigerate until scallops are done cooking.
- Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add butter and oil until melted and hot. Pat scallops quite dry with paper towels and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Place scallops in hot pan and cook 2 minutes per side, turning once and cooking just until each side is well-seared. Remove from heat, place on dinner plates, and then divide salad evenly among the plates. Sprinkle each plate with a few black sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Like you, I have a passion for beautiful-yet-healthy food that’s easy to prepare. 
While I do love making the occasional "fancy” dinner, most of the time I’m short on time and have a house full of hungry people who want to eat NOW.
I’m not a professional chef – just a busy mom who loves to cook and who’s focused on that intersection of healthy and delicious.
I want this series to feature the products and preparations you’re curious about.
Have a suggestion? Question? Recipe you want me to test?
Email me and help to shape this series.
