easy yet elegant: ginger sea scallops

costco never fails to inspire me to cook. the one close by our home is clean, just the right size, and crammed with all kinds of quality finds in the meat and seafood departments. on rare occasions, it offers truly amazing one-time deals like opah. this week, it was a two and a half pound package of the more average yet still provocative sea scallops.

i love scallops but am a beginner as far as cooking it myself. so i scrounged around the web for an elegant yet simple recipe. in my mind, seafood dishes are usually elegant. and i always prefer simple when i cook—that is, a recipe that isn't too complicated or time-consuming to prepare, and one that doesn't require too many obscure ingredients. with a baby and a very active preschooler running around our house, speedy cooking is a must! and i just hate to waste remnants of barely used ingredients.

the wonderful foodbuzz community led me to this recipe for ginger sea scallops by non-chef nick. it must have been fate! i had all the ingredients already and it took no time at all to bring my scallops from the refrigerator to the table!

i followed the recipe almost exactly, only cutting down on the salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to our taste. the results were exquisite! not too ginger-y or butter-y, so that the subtle taste of the scallop took centerstage. and i'm grateful that nick emphasized sautéing quickly on medium-high heat, so i avoided ending up with the tough, rubbery texture of overcooked scallops. next time—and there will be a next time!—i plan to turn up the heat a tad more to better sear the scallops.