Pan Seared Scallops on Spinach with a Pomegranate Reduction Sauce

     Today we feature Pan Seared Scallops over Baby Spinach with a Pomegranate Reduction Sauce. This is a delicious dish that can be used as an appetizer, one course in a large meal or a small meal by itself.
     The secret to pan-searing the scallops is to purchase fresh scallops or scallops that have been frozen without the addition of water. Regular frozen scallops or previously frozen scallops have been frozen with added water and will never sear properly. However even the scallops frozen without added water need to be patted and even squeezes lightly to remove any excess moisture.
     We used one large, ripe pomegranate for the sauce and it yielded 1/2 cup of pomegranate juice after sieving and filtering through 2 layers of cheese cloth. It was very fresh and had a delicious sweet and sour taste. Unsweetened pomegranate juice can be used if you do not want to experience seeding the fruit and filtering the juice.

Serves:          2
Prep Time:    10 minutes if using bottled pomegranate juice. Perhaps 40 minutes from scratch.
Cooking Time:
     Reduction:  20 to 30 minutes so
     Scallops:      3 to 4 minutes
     Spinach:      5 minutes or so

The pan-seared scallops with pomegranate reduction are absolutely delicious and can be served in several ways; alone or  with a vegi for an appetizer or with a vegi for a small meal or over pasta whatever...





INGREDIENTS
8 scallops frozen with no added water, defrosted and patted and lightly squeezed dry.
1/2 inch of unsalted butter
1 large fresh organic pomegranate, seeded; seeds blended and juice well filtered or 1/2 cup of pomegranate juice with no sugar added.
1 package of frozen baby spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry or about 10 ounces of fresh baby spinach steamed and patted dry
1 tablespoon of chives chopped into 1/2 inch lengths
1 1/3 tablespoons honey or 1 tablespoon organic white sugar
1/3 teaspoon ground coriander
a small pinch of ground cinnamon
2/3 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch
3 tablespoons of hi smoke point oil like grapeseed oil
several turns of fresh coarse ground black pepper
salt
2 to 3 tablespoons of pan roasted almond slivers

PREPARATION
The Pomegranate Reduction Sauce
1. Pour the pomegranate juice into a small saucepan. Stir in the honey or sugar, the coriander and the cinnamon and heat to a low boil.
2. mix the cornstarch with the lemon in a small bowl and pour into the saucepan.
3. Cook at a low boil until the sauce is reduced and thickened to a hot syrup consistency. Cover and allow to cool on the stove to just warm before serving.
The Scallops
1. Heat the butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium high heat in a suitable saute pan until the butter starts to darken.
2. Pepper the scallops on one or both sides according to your tastes. Add the scallops to the hot pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until the first side has a nice brown crust. 
3. Turn the scallops and cook for about the same time or until the meat is opaque to the center. be careful not to overcook them.
4. Reserve the seared scallops in a 120 to 150 degree Fahrenheit warming oven with the serving plates.
The Spinach
1. For fresh baby spinach, steam until cooked then pat dry. For defrosted frozen spinach, just separate and pat dry.
2. Reduce the heat under the pan to medium low and add the remaining oil.
3. Stir in the spinach until it is warmed through and covered with the oil. The pan can be deglazed of the bits of brown scallops while you are warming/cooking the spinach.

PLATING
1. This is your chance for creative Chef-like plating. The basic options are pouring the sauce over the scallops and spinach, floating the scallops on the sauce by the spinach or decorating the plates and scallops with stripes, squiggles and/or dots of the sauce. the beauty of the pan seared scallops should not be totally covered with the lovely pomegranate sauce.
In any event, the slivered almonds should be sprinkled on the plated spinach/scallops after any sauce has been added so that their beauty shows too.
2. Eat and enjoy the wonderful flavors of the scallops with the sweet and sour pomegranate sauce over the slightly bitter taste of the spinach; a wonderful combination.

Bon appetit,
Tom and Anita