In today's recipe, succulent, delicate and meaty scallops are transformed into little pieces of candy. The scallops are seared and glazed, then served up with savory Carolina rice, with quick-cooking collards and bacon. Good luck saving any for leftovers!
I don't suspect many of you will be heading out scalloping after reading this post, so this isn't necessarily a "catch and cook" type of recipe. However, local scallops caught off New England can be purchased at most local markets. Eating scallops is a nice way to support your local fishermen and enjoy a locally caught delicacy.
This recipe uses sea scallops which are generally much larger than bay scallops. By using large sea scallops you can get a nice big sear on each side.
This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite restaurants in Greer, South Carolina called Bin 112. The Bin 112 used to serve up a dish called Candy of the Sea, that included sea scallops seared and glazed in sweet chili sauce. For a side, the dish was served with Carolina rice and slow cooked collards.
Holy moly, did that dish stick with me (along with many of their other recipes). Unfortunately the Bin 112 closed down in 2018, so now I am personally tasked with recreating all of my favorite dishes from their restaurant just so I can satisfy these crazy cravings.
Quick-Cooking Collards with Bacon
If ya'll didn't already know, my parents live in South Carolina and for as long as I can remember, I have been a die-hard fan of all things southern - BBQ, hush puppies, okra, tomato pie, Waffle House, and of course, collards.
Traditionally, collards are slow cooked for hours then garnished at the end with vinegar. They are usually served up with something like beans, cornbread and a pork chop. Sounds wonderful right? It is, except these days not many people have hours to kill waiting for collards to cook.
In this recipe, I sauté garlic and onion, then add in coarsely chopped collards, crumbled bacon, broth, and salt and pepper. I let that slowly simmer for about 30 minutes. Then I take a strainer and separate the juice from the collards, and mix it all together with Carolina rice, to create a pillowy bed for some sweet and savory scallops.
Once the rice is done, it's time to pan sear the scallops, which takes less than 10 minutes.
However, there is a trick...
How to Pan Sear Scallops
When searing scallops (or anything for that matter) rule #1 is always not touch them until it's time to flip. Seriously, don't move it around in the pan or pick it up to check the sear situation - just leave it. This will give each scallop a beautiful sear.
Pat each scallop dry with a paper towel, then lightly season them with salt and pepper.
Heat a pan over medium-high and melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter into the pan. Once the butter melts, turn the heat down to medium.
The general rule of thumb is 2-3 minutes per side. They'll be done when they turn white and feel firm. Remember, don't touch them until you're ready to flip them!
This dish is as close as I'm going to get to the Bin 112 dish that I miss so dearly. The salty and slightly bitter taste of the collards and bacon paired with the juicy, sweet scallops certainly does the trick!
This recipe is intended to serve four people, with some leftover rice and collards.
You can check out the recipe below or click here to print a hard copy. Enjoy!
As always, please let me know what you think about this recipe!
You can also leave a comment below with any questions, and I will do my best to answer them.
Happy Cooking! 🍽
Looking forward to trying this recipe soon! 🤙🏻
Terrific! I hope it turns out well for you.
Excellent recipe. Very informative content. I love this recipe.
Lauren and I are pumped you enjoyed the recipe! More to come soon! Thanks for the comment Kirk. 👍
Thank you Lauren! I can’t wait to try out this recipe. We have been getting wonderful scallops “just off the boat” this summer.
Let us know how the recipe goes Gretchen! Hope you’re having a great weekend.
Can you clarify a bit on the recipe? You call for 2 cups of chicken broth as well as cooking the Carolina rice in chicken broth. Is the 2 cups just for cooking the collards? Also you call for 2 cups of cooked rice – how much does this translate to uncooked rice?
Hi Steve, Thanks for pointing that out! What I meant was to follow the package directions to cook the rice, but instead of using water to cook the rice, use broth instead. The 2 cups of chicken broth in the actual recipe are for the collards :).
For the rice, the easiest ratio to remember is one cup of uncooked rice gives you about three cups of cooked rice, so I would stick to that, and store the rest as leftovers for another dish later on.
Recipe writing can be a challenge and I’m still smoothing it all out, so I appreciate you pointing these things out so I can make future recipes easier to read through, so thank you!!
Thanks for your response and sharing your recipes. I am new to the cape, new to fishing (Thanks Ryan for all your pointers) but have been expanding my cooking skills for a while.
Looking forward to making this dish and looking forward to seeing more recipes from you- especially with a “Southern Yankee” twist!
Go Bruins!
Laeuren
Those look awesome love collards to , now is there a difference between dry scallop and wet ones ? I thought a scallop was a scallop? Cant wait to try this one!
Chuck
Hey Chuck! You want to be sure to pat your sea scallops dry before cooking, so they get a really nice sear to them. Also when purchasing them, choose the ones that haven’t been sitting in their liquid for too long. Yes, a scallop is a scallop, but pat them dry first before cooking them 🙂
Thanks Lauren! I just bought 1.5lbs of dry scallops at Market Basket, Love them! We’re grilling them tonight. Your recipe looks great though!
Yum!!! Save some for me – I’ll be over shortly! 😉
Hey Lauren,
Good point, I always have to remind myself to leave the scallops alone and only flip them once. IMO they are best when cooked less than more. When they are creamy on the inside before they start to crack on the edges. Most restaurants cook them too much.
Cool scallop story: I was driving my boat across Stage Harbor during a dark, windy day when I heard these guys yelling at me from one of the scallop boats moored out in the middle of the bay. Their tender had become untied from their boat and was quickly drifting across Stage Harbor, leaving them with no way to get back to shore. I retrieved their skiff and brought it back to them. When I got to their boat they handed me a plastic bag filled with 5 pounds of freshly shucked scallops as a thank you!. They were the best scallops I have ever had.
Betsy and I recently had the seared sea scallops at Tosca in Hingham, pricey, but delicious! My favorite scallop dish to make at home is with wild rice and Miso sauce. I’ll try your recipe soon, could I substitute baby spinach for the collard greens? My New England bias is showing. Have a great weekend.
ANY scallop dish is great in my book! Love the story too, thanks for sharing! I’ll have to check out Tosca in Hingham some time too! You could definitely try spinach instead of collards, but I would also considering trying lacinato kale first and see if you like that. Those kinds of greens are sturdier than spinach and won’t wilt as much 🙂