Sea Scallops with Saffron Aioli

WARNING, for the faint - this post does contain a slight mention of urine

School let out last week. Thursday to be exact. My kids are already bored. What the?!?! Really??? This is going to be one looong summer....Grrrr

The older kids were getting on each other's nerves so I sent them to their rooms to cool down while I started dinner. It was warm out and I wanted something light so I decided I wanted to make scallops. I poured myself an ice cold beer, turned on some great salsa music and enjoyed the calm while I cooked dinner.

For some reason it was unusually calm. Hudson had fallen asleep in the short 5 minutes he was in his room. Fine with me. I gathered the rest of the family and we sat down to eat. Mid-dinner I hear him crying from his room. I hollered to him that he can come out of his room now. We continued eating. Then, out of the corner of my eye I see him in the living room, standing behind the couch. What is he doing, I thought. Then in a split second, I said out loud, "Is he peeing?!" I dashed over to him, and sure enough, his pants were down, and there was a decent sized puddle on the floor. Are you kidding me??? I pulled up his pants and moved him to the couch, because he was obviously not awake, where he continued to sleep for the next hour.

The scallops didn't quite taste the same after that, but they were good nonetheless.

Sea Scallops with Saffron Aioli

serves 4

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, plus 1 teaspoon zest

1/8 teaspoon (pinch) saffron threads

1/2 cup best-quality mayonnaise

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 to 16 large sea scallops (I used 2 pounds & they weren’t very large. It served 2 perfectly.)

Freshly cracked black pepper

Put the orange juice and saffron in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for about 1 minute, until orange juice is infused with the saffron; stir in the zest and remove from the heat to cool slightly. Whisk the orange mixture and the mayonnaise in a small bowl until combined. Season with salt and set aside while you cook the scallops.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel and season well with salt and pepper. When the oil is rippling, add the scallops and sear, turning once, until golden brown but still opaque in the center, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove the scallops from the skillet to serving dishes, (3 to 4 per person), and drizzle with the aioli. Serve immediately.

Notes:

* I purchased these scallops on sale. I wouldn't make this recipe if I had to pay full price for them.

*Not really sure what the saffron added to this meal. It may or may not have been attributed to the fact that my saffron was a couple years old. (I realized this after the fact.) Saffron can be pretty expensive so I'm just throwin' that out there.

*We liked the aioli but added some Slap Ya Mama for some heat. It seemed to need a little something extra.