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Seared Scallops with Pineapple, Ginger and Lemon Grass Salsa

"I'm still on my healthy eating kick to get in shape for the summer, but refuse to resign myself to just baked chicken breasts and steamed broccoli. This recipe was exactly what I needed tonight – something that involves a little bit of real cooking, fresh seafood, and a ton of flavor. I will have to keep this one in mind for the upcoming summer evenings. If scallops aren't your thing, try this recipe with jumbo prawns, calamari, or even grilled octopus!"

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Why it works: Pineapple and apple cider vinegar share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 26 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

The recipe

2 servings
Prep25 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: shellfish, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Pat the scallops dry and season them with the pinch of salt. Refrigerate them until ready to sear.

  2. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry small skillet over medium heat for about 2 minutes, stirring, until golden. Set aside.

  3. Bring a pan of boiling water to a boil, add the trimmed green beans, and cook for 3 minutes until crisp-tender. Drain and set aside.

  4. Heat the 1 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the sliced shallot for about 3 minutes until soft and lightly browned. Remove from the heat.

  5. In a bowl, combine the pineapple, ginger, lemon grass, cilantro, honey, apple cider vinegar, red pepper flakes, extra-virgin olive oil, cooked shallot, and salt to taste. Let the salsa rest for 10 minutes.

  6. Heat the safflower oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Sear the scallops for about 90 seconds per side until golden and opaque, cooking to 145°F (63°C).

  7. Warm the green beans in a clean skillet over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, seasoning with salt to taste and a splash of water if needed.

  8. Spoon the salsa over the scallops, sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds, and serve with the green beans.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together26 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Ginger + lemon grasstop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together364 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Ginger + sesametop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,531 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Pineapple + honeytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together262 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Honey + apple cider vinegartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together169 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pineapple, ginger, lemon grass, honey, apple cider vinegar, sesame):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  3. Broccolibetter flavor fit
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, pineapple, ginger, lemon grass, honey, apple cider vinegar, sesame. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).