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Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3 (ZReboot) recipe.

Servings: Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of bay scallops or sea scallops cut in to quarters (in the picture my bay scallops are quite sizable)
• 1 – 2 Tbl of flour
• 1 egg
• 8 – 10 Melba Rounds ground to fine crumb. You choose your favorite flavor.
• peanut oil for frying
• melted butter
• seasoning

Instructions:

Spread your Melba crumbs on a large plate and set aside.

Rinse the scallops thoroughly. I use a colander to rinse them. Put them on a plate and dap at them with paper towels to get most of the moisture off of them. Then dry out your colander. Put half of the scallops back in the colander. Dust them in a tablespoon of flour. What I do is sprinkle it on and then shake and toss the scallops around so they get coated with some flour but then I let the rest of the flour fall through the colander into the sink. This way you don’t actually use a tablespoon of flour. Most of it drops off but you still get coated scallops. Set them aside on a paper towel. Do this again with the second batch.

Heat at least an inch of peanut oil in a pan with high sides. You can do 2” if you want. You can test the oil for readiness for frying two ways. One way is to heat it and then put a drop of water in the pan. If it bounces or spits back it’s ready for frying. The heat would be at medium-medium high. The second way is to get one scallop ready for frying and put just one in. If it readily begin to fry up your oil is ready. It’s important in frying to get the oil ready and cook fairly quickly because as you use the oil more and more it will become dark and cloudy.  You want to get done as fast as possible without being reckless.

As the oil heats you can prep your scallops.

In a small bowl put in your egg and break it up with a whisk.

You will take your scallops in small batches (6 – 8 at a time) and swirl them around the egg. The toss them around in the Melba crumbs. You need these Melba crumbs to last the entire batch of scallops so don’t be picky about getting the scallops completely coated. Even just one side is enough so some bare spots are fine. You can see in the picture how I did it. They are not completely covered.

When you pull them from the crumbs they are ready to gently put into the frying oil. Be sure in this recipe to use peanut oil. Peanut oil has what’s called a high flashpoint so it takes well to frying. It will do the best job with the best flavor and crispiness.

You can add 2 batches of 8 scallops easily to your oil. Just make sure they are not stuck together or stick to each other in the oil. Move them around with a metal spoon or spatula. They will be golden brown and done in 3 minutes or less. You do want to make sure the scallops get completely cooked so test on but cutting it open if you want. Make sure the insides are white and not grayish. Gray is a sign that they are not fully cooked.

Fry the scallops in batches. As they come out of the oil spread them on paper towels (you can see how I put paper towel in a basket). Grate some sea salt over the finished product. Be sure to turn off your oil and dispose of it properly.

While they are frying you can pretty easily melt a stick or two of butter. Then just decide how you want to flavor the butter. (If you have ghee in your cupboard this is the perfect time to melt some up). Your flavored butter or ghee can be plain. I put in a tablespoon of Cajun spice.  Other options would be cayenne for hot, smoked paprika, or you can put fresh herbs in. Some like Italian seasoning or dill. Up to you.

Enjoy!

Cheers,