Whenever I serve big, juicy grilled scallops to guests they speedily disappear. Add a luscious Saffron sauce, and you have a quick and easy showstopper.
The Saffron Crème is a snap to prepare, and its beautiful golden color looks wonderful with the creamy white scallops. I like to serve these in individual shot glasses for "Scallop Shooters," but you can opt to serve three to five sauced scallops on small hors d’oeuvre plates. Just garnish each scallop with a thread of saffron before serving.
- 1 pound sea scallops (approximately 30 large scallops), rinsed and patted dry with paper towels
- Adobo seasoning or seasoning salt, to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, plus extra threads for garnish
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 5 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 tablespoon whipping cream, half and half or milk
- Salt and pepper
Preheat range-top or outdoor grill on high for 5 minutes. Place scallops in a bowl, season with Adobo and toss with olive oil. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until just cooked. (The scallops will continue to cook the first few minutes after being removed from the grill.)
While grill is preheating, combine saffron filaments with the lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, and then remove from heat. Strain into a bowl and whisk in sour cream and whipping cream. Taste for seasonings, and add salt and pepper, if desired.
Place grilled scallops in shot glasses, on hors d’oeuvre plates or on a platter and top each scallop with a dollop of the Saffron Crème. Garnish each scallop with a saffron thread.
Makes 5 hors d’oeuvre servings.
