On a trip to Turkey as a young woman, chef Ana Sortun fell in love with the food and spent months learning the traditions of Turkish cooking from local women. Inspired beyond measure, Sortun opened her own restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the award-winning Oleana, where she creates her own interpretations of dishes using the incredible array of delicious spices and herbs used in Arab-Mediterranean cuisine. In this gorgeously photographed book, Sortun shows readers how to use this philosophy of spice to create wonderful dishes in their own homes. She reveals how the artful use of spices and herbs rather than fat and cream is key to the full, rich flavors of Mediterranean cuisine.
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, ground finely in a coffee grinder
1 teaspoon black pepper
Salt to taste
32 large, dry sea scallops
4 tablespoons canola oil, for browning
Rice Cakes (recipe follows)
To make the orange-saffron butter: Place the saffron in a small mixing bowl and add the vermouth. Let it steep for about 5 minutes. Add the orange and lemon zests and juices, the 2 sticks of butter, garlic, parsley, paprika, fennel, and black pepper. Mix to combine the ingredients and season to taste with salt.
Lay a piece of plastic wrap out and spoon half of the flavored butter in an even layer. Fold the edges of the plastic wrap around the butter mound and twist the ends to form a small log. Repeat this process with the remaining butter and chill both logs.
Remove the foot or muscle from the side of the scallop (sometimes it has a little shell stuck to it). It is a little tough, but is edible. I prefer to remove them.
In a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 teaspoon of the butter with 1 tablespoon of the oil until the butter starts to brown. Add 8 of the scallops and brown one side only, for about 6 to 7 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the scallops seem to brown too quickly or start to burn. The edges will turn from translucent to opaque, but the center on the top will remain a little translucent. Lift the scallops to check that they are brown with a golden crust and flip them over to cook the rare spot for 30 seconds.
Immediately remove the scallops from the heat and place them onto a platter. Dollop the scallops with 2 tablespoons of the orange-saffron butter and keep them warm by covering them with foil or by putting them into a small serving dish with a lid. The butter will melt from the heat of the scallops.
Wipe the saute pan clean and repeat the searing process until all the scallops are cooked. It may be tempting to sear all the scallops at once, but the more crowded the pan is, the less likely you are to get a golden crust. Too many scallops cools the pan down, and they will start to steam instead of sear. If you have a very large pan, you can try to fit more scallops in at once, but leave about 1 inch between each. It’s tempting to move the scallops around once they are in the pan, but don’t do it. Allow them to attain a perfect sear.
Add 2 more tablespoons of orange-saffron butter to the scallops and stir to coat them.
Divide them evenly onto 8 plates and serve immediately with rice cakes and seared greens.
