Scallops in Herb & Wine Sauce over Linguine

I wanted to try a seafood pasta dish with some kind of white wine sauce (usually it's clams in a white wine sauce) and ended up with this recipe. I also kind of improved since I didn't have all the ingredients I thought I had. And it turned out really well!

Scallops in Herb & Wine Sauce over Linguine
This recipe is for 2 servings. Double the ingredients if you want more for leftovers.

1/2 lb. linguine
1 lb. sea scallops - I used the frozen kind and thawed them two days before.
Salt & pepper
1 Tb. extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tb. butter
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
4 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped
1 cup dry white wine - I ended up using some Sherry I had on hand because I ran out of wine.
1 cup seafood stock or clam juice
25 leaves fresh basil, shredded
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 lemon, zested & juiced - I zested most of the lemon, but only used half the juice.

Cook pasta according to directions.

With a paper towel, pat try the scallops and season with salt & pepper. Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 Tb. of olive oil and 2 Tb. of butter to the pan. When the butter melts, add the scallops. Brown scallops 2 minutes on each side, until a golden crust forms, then remove from pan and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. I turned my oven on to 200 degrees and put the scallops, covered, in there to keep warm. I was also heating up some bread in the oven also. Not a necessary step, but it definitely keeps the scallops warm for dinner. Any warmer and you might end up cooking the scallops a little.

Add an additional drizzle of olive oil to the skillet and add the garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes, thyme, and salt & pepper. I chopped all those ahead of time and put into a bowl together so it was ready to throw in the pan. Reduce heat to medium and saute garlic and shallots, 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Don't let it burn! Add wine to the pan and free up and pan drippings. Reduce wine 1 minute, then add seafood stock. Continue cooking for about 1 minute. I let it cook a little longer so it thickens a little bit more.

Add basil, parsley, lemon zest, juice and the remaining 1 Tb. of butter. Shake and stir the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the cooked linguine and cook for 30 seconds, just to combine and let pasta soak up the sauce.

Divide pasta between two plates and top with reserved scallops.

See the pretty crust on the scallops? Mmm...

This was a pretty flavorful dish. The sauce is not your typical thick pasta sauce. I definitely took some of the extra sauce and spooned it over the pasta. It made for great juice to sop up with crusty bread. I really liked the scallops with this dish. It added a nice buttery flavor to it also. And the sauce was delicate enough to go with the seafood. Definitely only needed half the lemon juice. What's with all these recipes calling for the juice of a full lemon? It seems like that would be just too much lemon!

I'd definitely make this dish again. Give it a try!