We’ve been sitting at triple digits for a little over ten days now here in Dallas, so salads for dinner are sounding more and more appealing. This recipe for seared scallops with a warm corn, tomat, and okra salad is the perfect way to highlight the best produce of the summertime and make an exciting salad for dinner!
Scallops are one of our favorite protein sources! They are sustainable, super quick to prep, and a great source of low fat protein. We would eat them more often if they weren’t so costly, but when we find them on sale we jump on them! Many people are nervous about over or under cooking scallops, but the truth is, they couldn’t be easier to prepare! Here are a few tips. Pat your scallops dry with a paper towel before seasoning them. Heat up your pan over HIGH heat. This allows proper searing. Then place them into the hot pan and don’t touch for a good 2-3 minutes. Flip and repeat on the other side. That’s it!
The second key part of this recipe is the baked okra. Okra is one of those vegetables that people usually either love or hate. We are, obviously, big fans! We hear a lot of complaints about okra being “slimy”. If you cook okra in stews, this slimy texture can develop. We’ve found that be baking or grilling the okra, that eliminates the sliminess. If baking them, we recommend using a wire rack like this one, to allow maximum crispiness.
Once your okra is baked and your scallops are cooked, you simply warm up the corn for a few minutes and then toss the ingredients together. We opted to make a fresh herby dressing to top everything off. It creates the perfect balance of flavors, in our humble opinion … But feel free to top yours off with your favorite light dressing, or omit it altogether if you prefer.
We hope you enjoy these last few weeks of summer! Fall will be here soon enough, so make the most of fresh summer produce by making some delicious seared scallops with a warm corn, tomato, and okra salad! And if you love scallops as much as us, check out another favorite recipe, artichoke, goat cheese, and roasted tomato pasta with seared scallops.
Seared Scallops with Warm Corn, Tomato, and Okra Salad
Ingredients
Scallops and Corn, Tomato, and Okra Salad
- 5 Slices Bacon
- 8 Large Sea Scallops About 3/4 lb
- 3 Ears Fresh Corn Cut from cobs (can sub about 1½ cups frozen corn, thawed)
- 3-4 Medium Tomatoes Sliced into wedges
- 8 Ounces Fresh Okra Halved (about 1 cup)
- 1½ Tbsp Olive Oil
- ¾ Tsp Kosher Salt
- ¾ Tsp Black Pepper
- ½ Tsp Granulated Sugar
Herbed Dressing
- ¼ Cup Fresh Mint
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- 3 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 1 Lemon Juiced
- ½ Clove Garlic
- ¼ Tsp Kosher Salt
- ¼ Tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Lay bacon into a cold skillet. Turn onto low-medium heat and render bacon until crispy, about 10-15 minutes. Set bacon aside on a paper towel to absorb excess grease. Crumble once cooled. Reserve about 1-2 tbsp bacon fat in the pan for searing scallops later.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to about 400F.
- Toss the halved okra with olive oil, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper.
- Lay the okra out onto baking sheet (with wire rack if you have one). Bake for 25-30 minutes until browned.
- While the okra bakes, make the dressing. Add dressing ingredients into a food processor or blender and pulse until well blended. Set aside.
- Next, cook the scallops and corn. Heat up the reserved bacon fat over high heat. Pat scallops dry and season with salt and sugar. Sear in hot pan for about 3 minutes on each side. Take out of the pan and allow to rest on a plate for 1-2 minutes.
- Next, add in the corn into your pan and saute to cook through, about 2-3 minutes.
- Toss the cooked corn, fresh tomatoes, bacon, and baked okra together. Divide between 2 plates and top with seared scallops and dressing.