Seared Scallops with Tomato-Lemongrass Sauce

It's my last weekend at home without the family. The last two weeks have seemed like months! It will certainly be nice to have them home this week.

Had some more friends over this weekend and we had a fantastic dinner together. I started off the day by visiting the Mill City Farmers Market. It's a great little market along the river in Minneapolis. I'd heard a lot about it but hadn't ever visited before. Chef Shack also sets up there and I've been dying to get some of the great breakfast items they do there. After breakfast, I picked up some great produce including mushrooms, onions, rainbow chard, and even some fresh chevre. Produce from our garden included tomatoes, basil, chives, mint and cilantro. Picked up some scallops at Costco and we had our dinner menu.

It was fun working together in the kitchen to create our meal. We all split up the work and even took a break to sip on our virgin mojitos on the patio as the sun started to go down. The scallops were perfect, just seasoned with salt and pepper before being seared in a hot pan. Tanya, going in for her first attempt with scallops, cooked them even better than I did. I could have done without the mint, basil and cilantro salad that went on top, but the lemongrass and tomato sauce on the bottom was surprisingly the hot of the night. The onion, garlic, lemongrass and chilies were caramelized before adding some juice and tomatoes which were then cooked down and strained to create the sauce that we put underneath the scallops. It not only tasted great with the scallops but also with the sauteed rainbow chard and mushrooms we had as a side. I actually even put it on an omelet I made this afternoon. It's all gone now...

Seared Scallops with Tomato-Lemongrass Sauce
adapted from Epicurious


Ingredients
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 onion, chopped
6 stalks lemongrass, dry leaves removed, stems pounded; cut into 3-inch lengths
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 jalapenos, finely chopped
2 cups apple juice
4 cups of chopped tomatoes

Directions
Heat oil in a large, nonstick pan over low heat. Cook onion with a pinch of salt until translucent, about 12 minutes. Stir in lemon grass, garlic and chiles. Add juice. Raise heat to high, then simmer 5 minutes. Add tomatoes; break apart tomatoes. Simmer until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Force sauce through a colander and discard solids. Season with salt and pepper.

Season scallops with salt and pepper. Heat a large nonstick pan over high heat 1 minute; add oil. Cook 8 scallops for 3 minutes on first side and flip. Cook 3-4 minutes longer, undisturbed. Remove from heat. Repeat. Divide scallops and sauce among 8 bowls.