Pan Seared Sea Scallops {with Basil Pesto Pasta}

Pan Seared Sea Scallops with Basil Pesto Pasta.

Fill my pasta bowl with capellini tossed in fresh Basil Pesto and I am one happy camper.  Top it with pan seared scallops and I’m liable to do a back flip.  Something I’d regret in the morning.

We bought 8 gorgeous sea scallops and decided to prepare them two ways and share.  First, in an Asian direction with stir fried udon noodles and a spicy marinade ~ we creatively called this Asian Noodles with Seared Sea Scallops :)  The cover of this month’s Bon Appétit whispered, “can you do that?”  Can I do that?!  Pfff.  I got this and sprung into action.

Recipe note:  we are blessed with basil right now.  Our Aero-Garden is still thriving and we have three varieties that need harvesting every other day or so.  One of these varieties happens to be Lemon Basil.  It was a beautiful addition to our basil pesto.  If you are making fresh basil pesto for this dish and can get your hands on lemon basil I highly recommend working it in, if not a little squeeze of lemon juice would be nice.

Pan Seared Sea Scallops {with Basil Pesto Pasta}

Libby with Lemony Thyme

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• 1/4 lb. capellini pasta
• 1/2 cup fresh basil pesto see recipe link in post
• 8 sea scallops
• 1 Tbl. olive oil
• 5-6 fresh basil leaves
• salt & pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Instructions

 

• Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain and toss with basil pesto sauce.
• Meanwhile, rinse and pat dry sea scallops. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add olive oil to skillet and heat to medium-high. Sear scallops untouched for 2 minutes per side. Remove from the pan.
• Add pasta and fresh basil leaves to pan. Gently toss pasta until warmed through. Divide pesto pasta evenly between two pasta bowls, top each with sea scallops and grated Parmesan cheese.

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