Samantha Ferraro, founder of The Little Ferraro Kitchen, cooks up brown-butter scallops over creamy polenta as a way to bring warmth and local seafood to dinner plates this winter. The recipe is part of Bellingham SeaFeast’s Keep It Simple Seafood (KISS) recipes and cooking demonstrations.
• 5-6 wild scallops
• kosher salt
• ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil plus more for garnish
• 2 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped plus more for garnish
• zest of ½ lemon
• juice of ½ lemon
• 3 ½ cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup polenta
• ½ cup milk
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ground black pepper
Bring vegetable stock to a boil. Once boiling, whisk in the polenta.
Continue whisking until the polenta thickens, then turn off the heat.
Whisk in the milk, butter, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. Continue whisking until the butter has melted and the polenta is creamy. Once done, set aside.
For the scallops, dry the scallops very well, and season with salt and pepper.
Bring up a cast iron skillet to high heat and drizzle in olive oil and 1 Tbsp. of butter. Once melted, sear the scallops on each side until a deep golden crust forms, about 1-2 minutes per side, then set the scallops aside.
Lower the heat in the cast iron, and add another Tbsp. of butter and chopped garlic. Sauté the garlic for 30 seconds, then stir in a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, chopped fresh parsley, and stir to combine to make a pan sauce.
When ready to serve, spread a generous layer of polenta at the bottom of a plate, and top with seared scallops and drizzle of brown butter pan sauce. Garnish with more chopped parsley and fresh lemon zest and serve.
Bellingham resident Samantha Ferraro is founder of the food blog, The Little Ferraro Kitchen. Her recipes have been featured in PBS Food, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, among others.
Keep It Simple Seafood is a seafood cooking workshop in partnership with Bellingham SeaFeast and Bellingham Dockside Market. Workshops are held throughout the year in Bellingham and the recipes are available online. To view this recipe’s cooking video, visit
bit.ly/4633hGE.
