Having started a new diet, I learned that scallops are a great caloric deal, especially considering they have been my favorite source of protein for some years.
Unfortunately, I am limited in heathful ways to prepare them. I have thus far been sauteeing them with lemon pepper or italian seasoning and serving them with a baked potato or a crushingly small amount of pasta.
Does anybody out there have a low-cal way of preparing either bay or sea scallops? I’ve been cooking them in 1/2 pound increments, and would like for extra seasoning/sauce to add no more than 50 calories (100 for very special occasions…like Friday).
Any ideas would be appreciated. Zenster, I’m pagingyou.
Scallops are wonderful in that they soak up whatever flavor is around them. You might try marinating them in some lemon juice and fresh herbs and then grilling or broiling. You can also poach them in an herb-flavored or spiced liquid. I usually do this when serving them in or with risotto, but perhaps the rice would spike your diet.
A friend of ours cooked up some scallops with a sauce made from fresh ginger, coconut milk, and a little anise liqueur. It was wonderful. He kept the recipe secret, but it would be worth researching.
And if they’re fresh enough to be eaten raw, you can briefly dip them in boiling water - you want to leave the interior raw. You can then either slice them and serve in a salad, or simply let them stand a short while in a home-made dressing of your choice. (These kinds of very briefly marinated side dishes are called ae in Japan.) For scallops, I like to use a bainiku-flavoured dressing. Unfortunately, this ingredient might be a bit hard to get where you are, but I might give more details if anyone’s interested.
With non-stick pan, you can saute them with little or no oil, but you probably already know that.
Scallops can also make great tempura, though deep-frying may be a bit of a pain if you’re lazy as I am.
I have a recipe for a Warm Scallop Salad with a tomato bacon concasse, but I’m pretty sure it adds more than 50 calories. It was in one of the recipe threads I think. If not, I’ll post it again if you want.
Otherwise, preparing sea scallops is easy. If you get good scallops (ie, fresh, not frozen, not dipped in chemicals, etc.) you want to highlight their subtle sweet flavor, so heavy cooking methods and flavorings are out.
I do it this way:
Wash and thoroughly dry the scallops. Remove the muscle on the side of them - it can be tough and bitter when cooked.
Mix together some Wondra flour (a coarse grain flour that’s great for a very light crunchy coating), some salt and pepper, and other seasonings if desired. Lemon pepper, basil, a little red pepper - whatever you feel like. Dredge scallops in the flour mixture.
Heat a nice heavy pan until it’s hot. Add in a fat - I like clarified butter, but canola oil or (yum) bacon fat also works.
Add scallops to pan. Do NOT crowd them. Cook for a minute or two on each side, just until brown. I tend to like them close to raw in the middle - cook them less if you like them that way as well.
Note: don’t try this method with frozen or otherwise less than fresh scallops. They’ll turn out tasteless.
These all sound great. My source of scallops right now is just the local grocery store, so I don’t think I’ll take a chance on eating them raw.
Gazelle, I’m on the WW plan, too. How many points is your recipe? Scallops would be 4 points per pound - a little more than shrimp, I think, but still a great deal.
Pop in a lightly buttered (or otherwise greased) ramekin, top with bread crumbs with a pinch of parmesan, salt and pepper, and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until the crumbs turn golden brown.
Grilling is heavenly, as many people have suggested. My favorite combo to grill wth scallops is alternating red bell peppers and pineapple, with a light brush of soy sauce.
Marinate for 1/2 hour in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chile paste and a dash of sesame oil. Grill on high heat for a short time, less than a minute a side. The key is high heat, short time…you want a good crisp and browning on the outside, but don’t want to overcook. Overcooking scallops or shrimp is a sin. Remember that food continues to cook after you take it off the heat.
1 tbsp olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes 1.5 lb. shrimp (substitute scallops here?) 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup white wine 1/4 tsp thyme 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet until hot but not smoking over medium-high heat.
Add garlic, bay leaf and red pepper, saute for 30 seconds.
Add salt and shrimp and saute for 3 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.
Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add wine, thyme and parsley to the skillet, bring to a boil and reduce to 1/4 cup.
Add the cooked shrimp and toss to coat.
Yeesh, maybe I should try not to do this stuff from memory from now on. ::
The good news is that I also got the total points wrong. 4 servings, 4 points per serving. Spaghetti is 4 points per cup. So the shrimp with spaghetti, 8 points.
The number that WW gives you is for cooked shrimp/scallops. Since scallops lose so much weight in the cooking process, a half pound reduces to 2 points. If you look in the Week 1 book, it says that cooked scallops are one point per 1/2 cup. Half a pound of bay scallops wind up being one cup after cooking, hence 2 points. (I hope I’m right on this - scallops have been my mainstay on the diet.)
Eight points per serving sounds a lot more doable. I often have a bunch of points left for dinner, but not enough to spend 14 on dinner (assuming 1 cup of pasta).
Gazelle , are you an online member of WW or a meeting person? Do you know if you have to pay for the website in addition to paying to attend meetings? The WW website doesn’t give you much information before you have to register.
The points I gave for both scallops and shrimp were the “raw” numbers.
According to the website:
16 oz. of scallops: 8.5
16 oz. of cooked scallops: 11 (Probably because of oil usually used in cooking seafood?)
16 oz. of shrimp: 10
16 oz. cooked shrimp: 9.5
Hmm. That looks weird. I’m going to write to the webmaster for clarification.
Mithril, I am both a meeting goer and an eTools member. I pay for both because I like to SPEND SPEND SPEND!!! :rolleyes: eTools is $12.95 per month or $29.95 for 3 months.
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