This is our new favorite seared scallops recipe. These scallops with mushrooms are served atop a beautiful golden purée for a fantastic romantic recipe.
Look at the beautiful colors of this puree! I loved making this recipe. It came together so beautifully even though it does take a bit long to make everything. This scallop recipe is a perfect romantic recipe or Friday night recipe.
How to Make this Seared Scallops Recipe:
This recipe is comprised of a few main components:
- Golden Mushroom Puree
- Crispy mushrooms and spicy pistachios as a garnish
- Succulent seared scallops
This recipe requires a little bit of forethought and planning as there are many ingredients to prep and a few different techniques.
First, roast the vegetables for the puree. I use a variety of root vegetables and tubers, like parsnips, golden beets, and potatoes. I used two variety of mushrooms, cremini and shiitake mushrooms. Reserve a few sliced mushrooms for garnish.
Get creative with this recipe and try different mushroom varieties or different vegetables. Here are my suggestions:
- Root Vegetables: Carrots, celeriac, turnips or rutabaga
- Mushrooms: Maitake or king oyster mushrooms
While the vegetables roast, prepare the mushroom topping. Fry up the reserved sliced mushrooms and set aside. Next, prepare the pistachio topping. Toast the pistachios and toss with salt and cayenne pepper. Try this recipe with silk chili or even Ancho chili powder!
Once the vegetables have roasted, prepare the puree. Boil the roasted vegetables in stock with turmeric until very, very soft. After they are soft, puree them with cream until you reach your desired consistency. Use a food processor or an immersion blender for this step!
Finally, prepare the seared scallops. Simply fry them up in the same skillet used to cook your pistachios.
This scallops and mushrooms certainly has a lot of steps but the finished product is absolutely divine and totally worth it!
Looking for more seafood recipes? Check my archives! You can also try out my favorite scallop and saffron recipe here!
If you made this seared scallops recipe recipe, please rate it and comment below! You can also follow me and share your creations by tagging me! I’d love to feature your #triedandtruerecipes creation on my feed!
Scallops with Golden Mushroom Purée
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Skillet
- Medium pot
- Immersion blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 3 parsnips peeled and diced
- 3 golden beets peeled and diced
- 12 ounces cremini mushrooms divided
- 10 ounces shiitake mushrooms
- 3 Yukon gold potatoes peeled and quartered
- 1 shallot peeled and quartered
- 10 cloves garlic peeled
- 3 cups mushroom stock or chicken or vegetable stock
- ½ cup heavy cream plus more if desired
- Water for thinning out the purée if desired
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil optional, for serving
Scallops
- 12 dry sea scallops or 1 pound of flaky white fish or a combination of both
- ¼ cup shelled pistachios unsalted
- Cayenne powder to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
Prepare the Mushrooms:
- Thinly slice four cremini mushrooms and set aside. Quarter the remaining cremini and shiitake caps.
Roast the Vegetables:
- Preheat oven to 450ºF. As the oven preheats, prep and dice the vegetables for roasting.
- Toss the vegetables (not including the 4 sliced mushrooms) with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and transfer to a baking sheet. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss gently. Transfer the sheet pan to the oven and roast for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through. The vegetables should just begin to char and deepen in color. They will not be fork tender.
Prepare the Purée:
- In a medium pot, add the mushroom stock and the roasted vegetables and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are very tender and soft. If the mixture seems like it's sticking to the bottom of the pot, add a bit of water. Add the turmeric and stir to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Use an immersion blender and pulse until blended. Stir in the heavy cream and continue pulsing, adding more cream until the purée reaches your desired consistency. Keep the puree warm. You may need to loosen it up with a touch of water or cream right before serving.
Brown the Sliced Mushrooms:
- Heat two teaspoons of oil in a small skillet over medium high until very hot. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring regularly, for about 5-6 minutes. Reduce the heat if necessary to avoid burning. The mushrooms should crisp up around the edges. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.
Toast the Pistachios:
- Heat the 1 teaspoon of olive olive in the same skillet over medium high. Add the pistachios and cook, tossing frequently, for 45 seconds to 1 minute or until they begin to brown in places.
- Transfer the toasted pistachios to a Ziplock bag and season with salt and a sprinkle of cayenne powder. Shake to coat. Using the back of your knife or a heavy skillet, lightly crush the pistachios.
Cook the Scallops:
- In the same skillet used for the pistachios, heat the 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the 1 tablespoon of butter over medium high heat until very hot and frothy and shimmering.
- Add the scallops and sear for 1 minute and 30 seconds without moving. Gently flip and sear and additional 1 minute and 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
To Serve:
- Divide the golden mushroom purée between shallow bowls and top with the browned sliced mushrooms from the recipe. Gently arrange the scallops on top and sprinkle with the crushed spicy pistachios. Enjoy!
How do you keep the vibrant yellow color like in your picture? With the addition of the mushrooms in the purée, it comes out looking like it’s already been eat and discarded into the toilet.
Did you use golden beets? They influence the color a lot! I developed this recipe quite a long time ago, so I’ll need to revisit it and see if something needs to be amended.