Sea Scallop Fettuccine

Recipe: Sea Scallop Fettuccine
Page: 130
Date Cooked: August 1, 2011

Soon after I hand-rolled the lasagna sheets for the "lasagna with smoked ham and cabbage", I fell in love with the taste of home-made pasta and decided I needed to buy a pasta maker. It tasted so good but I couldn't see myself rolling it out with a pin every time. It arrived and life took over, so it sat in the box for a while. However, I finally took it out and it's inaugural pasta came from a JW recipe and here it is.

Eggs, all-purpose flour, salt, sea scallops, shallot, lemon, parsley, white wine, heavy cream, olive oil, and pepper

I began with the pasta making. In a food processor I combined the egg yolks, flour, and salt; and pulsed till a ball of dough formed. I then kneaded it for a few minutes and then covered it with plastic wrap to rest for a bit.

Pasta dough in the process

I divided the pasta dough into 3 pieces and worked with one at time. I rolled the dough through the pasta maker using one setting at a time until the next-to-thinnest setting. All the sheets were dusted with flour and allowed to dry on the counter. Once the sheets dried, I ran them through the fettuccine cutter. The fettuccine was then tossed with some flour and left out to dry.

1. Rolling out pasta dough 2. Pasta sheets 3. Fettuccine

I then put a sliced shallot, parsley, and wine into a saucepan and allowed it to simmer for some time. JW recommends placing the tough muscle from the scallop into this mixture as well. Unfortunately, my grocery store doesn't carry scallops with the muscle on, so I went without it. I strained the liquid, returned it the saucepan, and let it reduce. I then added the heavy cream and allowed the sauce to simmer until it thickened. Once ready, it was removed from the heat.

Left: reducing the wine mixture Right: cream sauce

With the pasta and sauce out of the way, I focused on cooking the scallops. I rubbed the scallops with olive oil, salt, and pepper and then heated them in a large skillet to get a sear on each side. I made sure to follow JW's warning in the shellfish section of this book as well - "It's a crime to mess around too much with scallops."

Searing the scallops

I removed the scallops from the skillet and placed them on a plate. I poured the cream sauce into the skillet and kept it warm. During this time, I cooked the pasta until just tender. I then placed the drained pasta into the skillet with the cream sauce.

1. Heavy cream sauce 2. Boiling pasta 3. Pasta with heavy cream

I tossed the pasta into the cream sauce and seasoned it with the lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I then proceeded to plate the pasta and added the scallops on top.

Sea Scallop Fettuccine

I cannot say enough about this recipe. It was delicious. Everything was spot on perfect. The pasta recipe was exactly right and it tasted wonderful. Quite possibly some of the best pasta I have ever had (not to talk myself up too much). The sauce was super yummy. The lemon in the pasta complimented the scallops. Everything about this dish was marvelous. Pure deliciousness! Perhaps it is too soon to rave about the pasta recipes in "A Great American Cook" but I'm well on my way there.

Enjoy!