The night before last, I had the pleasure of collecting 1 lb of the freshest scallops in New York, brought by Togue Brawn of Downeast Dayboat to Luke’s Lobster Midtown-East. The scallops had been landed by Captain Kristan Porter of Pembroke, Maine, at 12:01AM on March 14th. Around 24hrs later, they were in my kitchen, and I was ready to dig in!

A couple weeks ago, I interviewed Togue for my Edible article, and she had told me about the special flavor profile of Maine scallops, so I was excited to taste them- especially raw! After cutting small strips and letting them melt on my tongue, I found that the scallops tasted like delicious soft bits of the sea. I was impressed!

For the main meal, I figured that their buttery delicateness would pair well with more butter- and luckily that was the case! I decided to adapt my dear kitchen heroine Julia Turshen’s herby compound butter from “Small Victories,” and enjoy it with some light angel hair pasta. It was such a great combination that I had to share!

Unfortunately, the Maine Scallop season is ending soon (in April,) but I hope you will check out Downeast Dayboat scallops next December, when they are collected again!

Buttery Lemon Joy Scallop recipe

-1 lb fresh Maine scallops

-4 TB unsalted butter, room temp

-small handful parsley, chopped finely

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1 shallot, minced

-1 lemon

-1 package angel hair pasta

Cut up the garlic, shallot & parsley & mix with the butter until well blended. Grate the lemon zest on top.

Preheat lightly salted water for pasta.

Removed scallops from the fridge, place them on a plate, and season w salt.

Take half the butter mixture and melt it in a cast iron pan until melted & fragrant. Add the scallops, and cook 2 mins each side.

At the same time, add angel hair to the boiling water & cook until al dente, about 2 mins.

Once pasta is drained, add the rest of the butter mixture (to taste,) and stir until melted.

Plate with a nice twist of angel hair, followed by scallops, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Enjoy the sweet taste of the sea!

(Adapted from Julia Turshen's "Small Victories")