Scallop Scampi(ish)

At the seafood counter today they had nice looking scallops on sale. I hadn't cooked scallops in a long time so I was inspired. When I got home I looked around and came up with a game plan for them. I started with scampi style over angel hair pasta as my jumping off point. Then I thought some color and added veggie would be more appealing visually and texturally, not to mention, add some nutritional value. My hand passed a can of diced tomatoes in the cabinet and I grabbed that, and I remembered an opened bag of fresh spinach in the fridge. The dish then came together in my head.

First I put some butter and olive oil in a skillet and added some finely chopped garlic. Then I added the scallops and browned them on both sides. I added some white wine and squeezed half a lemon into it. After that, I put in the can of diced tomatoes (drained) and the fresh spinach and cooked it all till the spinach wilted and the tomatoes were heated through. I wanted it to thicken slightly, so I added a bit of flour and stirred vigorously to avoid lumps. I seasoned the dish Old Bay, seasoning salt and pepper and then tossed with the pasta.

It was very pretty on the plate. If I were to go back and change something, I would have just seared the scallops off first and removed them from the pan, then built my sauce and added them back in with the spinach and tomatoes. They didn't get quite enough crust on them for my taste and were slightly overdone by the time the rest of the dish came together. Instead of tossing the pasta with the sauce, you could certainly put the pasta on the plate first and then lay the sauce over it.