Scallops are like candy from the sea. Soft, sweet, and buttery, they are truly a treat. While easy to cook, they take a tiny bit of finesse to cook perfectly, but once you have learned how, you will add these to your repertoire. This dish is bright and luscious, a hyped-up version of the (sometimes) gloppy chicken piccata I grew up with. I like to use Meyer lemons to make homemade preserved lemons, but store-bought preserved lemons will work.
This recipe was excerpted from ‘Crave' by Karen Akunowicz. Buy the full book on Amazon. Get more scallop recipes →
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What you’ll need
Kosher Salt
$12 $11 At Amazon
Preserved Lemon
$12 At Amazon
Capers
$18 At Amazon
12-Inch Skillet
$27 At Amazon
Ingredients
Serves 2 to 4
Preparation
Step 1
Clean the scallops by removing the “foot,” the small adductor muscle on the side of the shellfish and pat dry with a paper towel. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Have a paper towel-lined plate ready to go.
Step 2
Place a large stainless-steel or cast-iron sauté pan over high heat and add your oil.
Step 3
When the oil starts to shimmer, arrange your scallops in the pan, being careful not to place them close together. Make sure there is an inch between them; if your pan is not big enough to accommodate all 12, you will need to sear in two batches or two pans.
Step 4
Lower the heat to medium-high and sear for 1 minute without touching or moving the scallops.
Step 5
Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the pan. This will help brown the scallops, but you want to have already seared them and have them turning golden BEFORE you add the butter. Do NOT flip the scallops.
Step 6
Sear for 1 more minute and turn off the heat. Remove the scallops from the pan, using tongs, and set them, seared side UP, on the paper towel-lined plate.
Step 7
Next, you are going to build your sauce in the pan. Turn the heat to medium and add the white wine, lemon juice, and water to the pan. Let the liquid come to a simmer.
Step 8
Add the shallot, preserved lemon, capers, and oregano, simmer for 30 seconds, and add the remaining tablespoon of unsalted butter. Swirl around the pan to emulsify the butter and add the chopped parsley.
Step 9
Turn off your heat and add the scallops back to the pan, uncooked side down. Let them hang out in the sauce for a minute and plate them, using tongs. Pour the sauce over the top of the scallops.
Leave a Review
Reviews (16)
Back to TopVery delicious!! Preserved lemons are easy to make and keep in the refrigerator. Thinly slice a lemon, put a layer into a small glass jar and salt it very well, add another and salt it…adding all lemon slices and salt, press down until full, and cap it. Over the next days, salt will draw the juices out surrounding the lemons. Finely chop the peel to use per recipes, adding to stir fry is amazing, a little goes a long way;)
Jan
San Diego, CA
3/9/2024
Excellent recipe! It was my first time cooking scallops but the recipe was easy and they came out perfect. The sauce is very tasty. I didn’t have any preserved lemon so I just used lemon zest. We’re planning to make them again this week!
Anonymous
Tucson, AZ
2/21/2024
NO CAPERS? and where to find preserved lemon rind? thanks Phyllis
Anonymous
Santa Barbara, CA
1/26/2024
I had high hopes after reading all the good reviews. I’m sad to say that I thought this was way too lemony and salty for my tastes. The subtle flavor of scallops was overpowered by lemon. It was a waste of very expensive scallops. I will not repeat this one.
Reina
Taos, NM
1/7/2024
The scallops cooked perfectly, and I am picky about seafood! Loved the preserved lemon rind, which I had never used before. Will definitely make this again.
Peg
Saint Augustine, FL
12/24/2023
Great one. Followed instructions as is except I did not have the preserved lemon rind. I loved preserved lemon and make it myself. I just never use it fast enough to keep it on hand as I would like. I subbed in the same amount of lemon rind from juicing the lemons in the recipe. I often sear one side (presentation side) of scallops and lightly sear or finish with underside in the pan sauce or lightly sear second side depending. I did not have day scallops which I would normally use. I had some Costco scallops from a previous purchase and had to take care to properly dry them first. This will be a repeater, even with other seafood.
Ray
Havertown, PA
12/22/2023
Re: searing on both sides - in this recipe, the 2nd side steeps for a minute in the sauce... DELISH!
JWD
MPLS MN
12/20/2023
The way the recipe is written, you only sear one side of the scallops? Is that a mistake or intentional? I've always seared both sides...
Anonymous
Boulder, CO
12/10/2023
Lucious!!
Anonymous
Plymouth,MA
12/10/2023
This recipe takes time to prepare the ingredients. Once the ingredients are assembled the cooking to plating time only takes about 4 minutes. The cooking time for the scallops was spot on! This is a dish that we will definitely make again. I will be dreaming about this delectable dish until next time.
Luna’s mom
Veneta, OR
4/27/2024
Made this last night for friends to rave reviews. Even though I’d prepped everything, it took longer than I thought and it is a lot of steps! I dusted scallops with flour- I always do when cooking them - and used a large cast iron pot. Preheated my oven to 225 so dish would stay warm while we ate salad. Great dish but not sure it’s worth the effort.
EGrotta
Phoenix
2/7/2024
Excellent. We have some sort of piccata dish at least once a month. My practice searing scallops and other fish/seafood has really paid off. I did sear a little on the second side because my husband does not like rare-tasting/textured seafood. Scallops were cooked perfectly for him and they were very tender. Followed recipe almost exactly. The preserved lemon made a big (positive) difference in the flavor of the sauce.Based on previous experience with preserved lemon, I decreased the amount to 1 tbsp which was perfect. Do not leave out this important ingredient which I will add to my next piccata adventure. Company worthy.
Trish the Dish
Stratham NH
1/28/2024
Hi Phyllis, It’s been a while since I was in Santa Barbara, but many specialty food stores (maybe gelsons or Bristol’s), and sometimes the odd whole foods may carry them. Or order them online. Tara Kitchen, a fantastic little Moroccan joint in of all places Schenectady NY has them and I think you can order them on Amazon. Making them isn’t hard…if you have time…like a month. I stole this recipe from Arabesque by Claudia Rosen which basically says … Take 4 handwashed lemons (Meyer lemons are great for this), slice them lengthwise in quarters but not fully - leave the stem side (or top side) intact holding all four quarters, put a tablespoon of salt inside each lemon and squeeze each closed and insert them into a sterilized/sanitized preserves or mason/ball jar and press them down in the jar and seal the jar. Put it in some dark cool-ish place for around 4 days. Then open the jar, press them down, add the juice of 4 more (same kind, like Meyer) lemons to top off the lemons in the jar and leave them in a cool dark place for a month at least…the longer the better… yeah, go buy some preserved lemons if you want this today. Mark Bitman has a quick preserved lemon recipe where you can take 4 scrubbed clean lemons, dice them (keep the peels on), remove all the seeds you can, add a tablespoon of salt and two of sugar and mix them well then put them in a jar, close it and let it sit out at room temp for about 3 hours. Then they’re ready… or just stick them in the fridge…I’m not sure it’s a good cheat, but it could be a nice experiment. I listened to the other reviews and decided to go slow adding the lemon juice while making the sauce. I wound up using all the lemon juice because I had very large scallops, and more than 12. I can see if your scallops are medium or small-ish they would be bombed out by the lemon juice (but don’t cut back on the preserved lemon rind - and preserved lemon pulp will make this nasty, so get all the flesh out and use the peels only). I always add salt last to adjust for taste…Hey it’s stove top cooking so playing around is cool…
Tony AR
Arlington MA
1/27/2024
Joyce, the capers are in step 8
Anonymous
1/25/2024
A Picatta normally includes capers. They are shown in the picture yet are not in the recipe. What gives?
Joyce Taylor
Atlanta, GA
1/15/2024
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