Orange Coconut Scallops in a Sweet Ginger Sauce

This is a very easy and flavorful recipe for scallops that goes great with rice, rice noodles or a salad.

What you need:

Scallops

Oranges (1 per order)

Coconut (shredded, but you can buy it whole and shred yourself)

Ginger liqueur, I prefer Domaine de Canton (enough to deglaze your pans)

Butter ( about 1 tablespoon per order)

Olive Oil

Shred your coconut and set aside if you need to.

 Peel the oranges, making sure to remove all of the white pith with a knife or by peeling with your fingers. Leaving the white pith will make the orange bitter and chalky. Cut the orange in half and dice into large 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces and set aside.

 Leave your butter out to warm up and soften, about 1 tablespoon per order.

Take your scallops, dry them with a towel and season with salt and pepper while you heat up a sauté pan on your stove. Make sure the pan is very hot before your add oil and begin to cook the scallops. For those who have issues cooking scallops or want a bit more information, it might help to read about how to cook scallops without sticking them to the pan.

I recommend cooking no more than 2 orders of scallops in a single pan. Overloading the pan  can lead to over searing and burning, or a watery sauce. Smaller pans re-heat much faster and keep your sauces from going watery and essentially poaching the scallops.

Sear one side the the scallops and season the side facing up in the pan. As you flip the scallops add your oranges and let it all cook for about a minute.

Don't play with the pan, don't shake it around or toss the oranges and scallops. If you do, you'll end up with broken scallops and orange mush.

 The oranges will brown slightly but the sauce will pull off the caramelized portions a bit and make them a deep orange at the finish. Throw in the butter and sprinkle a good amount of coconut over the top. Then deglaze with the ginger liquor.

The liqueur will flame, so don't hold the bottle over the pan for too long or you'll have a flaming bottle of ginger liqueur spraying around your kitchen. Just pour a good bit (two ro three ounces) in the pan and keep it away from flammable objects. The flames will roast the coconut slightly without drying it and release the deeper flavors of the oranges.

When the sauce is at the consistency you want, place the scallops on the plate and carefully pour the oranges and sauce over them.

I like to serve this dish along side a nice salad in the summer, and with rice and root vegetables in the winter.