Seared Scallops in Sweet Smoked Paprika & Orange Sauce

I love scallops. Having a seafood-heavy meal plan isn't bad when you can eat yummy bivalves almost to your heart's content.

Add in some paprika and oranges (I can eat fruits too!), and what's not to like? And the fact that it cooks up in a total of 5 minutes? Quite fabulous.

The original recipe calls for blood oranges. But my blood oranges were sacrificed to my morning breakfast shake, so I had to rely on normal orange oranges. They worked well.

I cannot eat yummy things like butter, so I left it out. I didn't feel like it was missing anything.

I also completely ignored the list of suggested spices. Despite being Mexican, I don't really care for cumin. It's too smoky for me, and since I was using sweet smoked paprika, why take away from that? Instead, I used a blend courtesy of our favorite Tuscan restaurant Rosti made up of sage, sea salt, black pepper, garlic, and rosemary. And added turmeric. Because it fights cancer and turns everything yellow.

(Seriously, everything. It has to be washed off immediately or things become permanently neon yellow. I think that's how it kills cancer, by yellowizing it to death!)

6 medium sea scallops are about enough for a single serving. Add some veggies and you have a full meal.

I ate this standing up in the kitchen, straight out of the pan. The smell while it was cooking was that intoxicating, it was hard to wait! And since it scales so easily, this is going to be one of those dishes that can be whip up for unexpected company (use a pound of scallops for 4 people and a full cup of juice) or after a long day at the office.

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Seared Scallops in Smoked Paprika & Orange Sauce
Adapted from Whole Foods Recipes

Ingredients

3 ounces blood orange juice (yield from 2 medium oranges, use regular oranges if blood oranges are unavailable)6 medium or 4 large wild frozen scallops, thawed 1 teaspoon Rosti Tuscan Kitchen spice mix (or any spice mix you like)1 teaspoon turmeric1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika, divided 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil Salt & pepper to taste (if your spice mix doesn't include them)

Instructions

1. Heat orange juice in a medium saucepan over low heat. Simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Rinse scallops and pat completely dry. Mix half the sweet smoked paprika and rest of the spices together and dredge the scallops so they are completely covered.

3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until smoking. Add oil to skillet and sear scallops, about 1 to 2 minutes per side, until they develop a golden-brown crust and are just cooked through. Be very careful not to overcook and create inedible rubber.

4. While scallops are searing, whisk the remaining sweet smoked paprika into the warm reduced orange juice. Enjoy the aroma.

5. Place the scallops on a plate and spoon the sauce over them. Serve immediately. Cold scallops aren't quite as delicious.

Yield: 1 serving