Scallops with Rapini and Asparagus

I really like scallops, but i actually don't cook with them often, for some reason i'm a little intimidated by them. A few weeks before i had bought some quality frozen ones, and in order to force myself to use them i put them out saturday morning in the sink before i went out to run errands. These were a little pricey so there was no way i would have wasted them. Sometimes you've got to trick yourself.

I'm sure you have noticed that i really haven't been cooking lately, i have only myself to blame, and i really haven't been doing anything in particular, so lets call it April blahs. I've been a little more of a homebody the last few days as i've been watching the second round of the NBA playoffs, hence more cooking. I also am planning an upcoming Mother's Day Brunch which i'm pretty excited about.

When i finally got home after helping my friend Melanie moving saturday evening, i still didn't have a real plan for the scallops - i was hoping seeing them thawed would somehow trigger a recipe.... It didn't.

I ended up just tossing them in some olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper and sauteeing them. I was going to add saffron, but i couldn't find mine, and i had decided it might be too delicate with the Rapini which is quite a bitter and powerful flavour. I also had to cook them quickly because the lemon juice was starting to cook the raw scallops.

For the rapini sauteed some shallots and garlic in butter and olive oil, once they were turning brown i added some lemon zest and quickly tossed it, adding the Rapini to soften. While it was wilting i added some sake - i didn't have any white or vermouth, and a little bit of lemon juice to finish it.

The asparagus i just tossed in olive oil and baked, topping it with Parmesan. And i actually was able to make the rice without burning it or any other tragedy. (it was basmati)

When i was putting all together i realized that the scallops really needed some sort of sauce. I was about to make a yogurt sauce when i realized that the yogurt i had was vanilla, not plain - which would have made for nasty sauce. So instead i ended up mixing mayo, whole grain dijon, olive oil and lemon juice for the sauce.

Above:

Scallops
Wilting the rapini
Rapini ingredients
The meal
Ingredients
Asparagus ready for the oven