RessaBuilt Recipes: Dishes to Prepare in Your New Home

While our main focus is the design and construction of your home remodel or renovation, the project's final result is truly what the goal is. Enjoying the new space with your friends and family is why most engage in the process in the first place. Check out some recipes we love that you can prepare for yourself or when you have guests over to see the transformation that has occurred!

Seared Scallops with Fennel and Blood Orange Vinaigrette

Yields Two Servings

Ingredients:

• 8, 10-20 (Colossal) Scallops
• 2 ripe Blood Oranges
• 1 head Fennel
• .25 cup Sunflower Seeds
• 1 head Garlic
• 1 TSP Dijon Mustard
• Olive Oil
• Neutral Cooking Oil (Canola, Vegetable, Grapeseed)
• Butter
• Salt and Pepper

1. Cut the top of the garlic head off revealing the cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, wrap completely in foil, and roast at 400° F for about an hour or until garlic cloves are easily pierced with a fork. Let cool and squeeze out cloves.
2. Supreme one blood orange and juice the other. From the supremed orange, squeeze as much juice as possible from the remaining pith.
3. In a bowl, whisk to combine the blood orange juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and roasted garlic cloves. The garlic cloves should be so soft they disintegrate as you whisk. You should have a ratio of 3:1 of olive oil to blood orange juice. Season your vinaigrette with salt and pepper.
4. In a small sauté pan over medium-high heat, toast the sunflower seeds with a small amount of olive oil until slightly browned. Remove and season immediately with salt.
5. Remove the outermost layers of the fennel bulb. Slice the bulb in half and remove the core. Using a mandolin, or a very sharp knife, slice the fennel bulb as thinly as possible, the slices should almost be translucent. Pick some of the fronds from the top of the stem and reserve them in cold water.
6. Wash your scallops in cold water. Remove the side muscle from each scallop. While not necessary, the side muscle can become chewy after cooking. Thoroughly pat dry the scallops with a paper towel. This is extremely important and will greatly improve the sear that you obtain on the scallops. Season both sides of your scallops with just salt as the high heat of the sear would burn the pepper.
7. Heat a stainless-steel sauté pan over high heat with just enough neutral cooking oil to coat the bottom. Once the oil is shimmering and whisps of smoke have appeared, carefully place your scallops in the pan in a circular pattern, then, immediately lower the heat to medium-low.
8. Let the scallops cook for about 2-3 minutes without touching or moving them. Once a nice golden-brown sear has developed, add a few TBSP of butter to the pan. Flip the scallops and move them to the far side of the pan away from you. Using a large spoon, continuously baste the scallops with the foaming butter.
9. The best way to determine that the scallops are cooked correctly is to use a cake tester. Insert the cake tester tip into the scallops for a moment. Immediately remove the cake tester and place the tip against your lips. The scallops are done when the cake tester feels just slightly warm against your lips, not hot. Remove the scallops from the pan to a wire cooling rack.
10. To plate, arrange scallops in a circle on a dinner plate. Add slices of fennel and supremed blood oranges around the scallops. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the scallops, fennel, and blood orange supremes. Sprinkle the sunflower seeds over the entire plate. Finally, whimsically garnish with the fennel fronds.
11. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Allergens: Shellfish

Want more insight into how RessaBuilt can help you transform your home? Check out the informative articles on our blog, or contact us to get your own home remodeling project started.