Grilled Sea Scallops with Beets and Cucumber

What’s for dinner Saturday night?

Grilled Sea Scallops With Yellow Beets, Cucumbers and Lime.

This is based off a New York Times recipe a close friend recommended. I picked up some sea scallops at our local seafood shop (Shady Lane Seafood) and decided (at $26 a pound) to pan sear them in a cast iron skillet, not wanting to lose a single on in the grill. My friend suggested using shrimp as a more budget friendly alternative. I couldn’t find yellow beets, so I used red.

INGREDIENTS (I halved the list below since I was cooking for one, and used 6 scallops). 3 medium yellow beets 1 pounds large dry-packed sea scallops (about 12 scallops) Salt and pepper Extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup finely diced red onion 4 tablespoons lime juice, plus more for finishing 1 teaspoon grated ginger (I use squeeze ginger in a bottle) 2 medium cucumbers, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes 2 tablespoons roughly chopped dill (mine was garden fresh!) 2 tablespoons roughly chopped mint 2 tablespoons finely cut chivesI don’t like mint, so I left that out. And I wanted a little heat, so I fined diced a jalapeno.

DIRECTIONSI coated 3 small beets with skin on with olive oil and wrapped them in aluminum foil and placed them on a baking sheet, roasting them at 375° for 45 minutes.Pat dry the scallops, season them as you like (I used black pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and dried basil). Coat with olive oil and set aside.In a medium mixing bowl, combine the onions, ginger and lime juice. Add jalapeno if you so choose. Let sit 10 minutes, then add the cucumber. When the beets are done, take off the foil and let them cool for a few minutes. Slice, quarter and add to the cucumber mix.Cook your scallops (I pan eared mine with olive oil for about 2 minutes a side. You want a nice sear marks).I put 3 scallops on a plate, covered them with the veggies and put 3 scallops on top. The place the dill, chives and squeeze half a lime on top. Enjoy! It was a fun, tasty and healthy meal.

Pairs well with a bottle of 1945 Romanee-Conti