With the arrival of spring, we’ve been loving the return of bright green everywhere, be it in our yard, covering the forest floor behind our house, or in the veggies in our groceries. In particular we’ve been loving fresh English peas and have been putting them into pretty much everything we can think of. The kids are of the mind that shelling the peas is basically the most fun activity ever. In fact, one evening I was able to halt an epic episode of tired crying on the part of Caroline by letting her shell the peas for dinner. It was miraculous.
I originally had a completely different recipe idea in mind for this pea pesto, which I have since forgotten. Over the weekend it slowly evolved in my mind until this combination emerged – an herbed pea pesto to accompany seared scallops. Thankfully the butcher shop had just gotten in some gorgeous diver scallops and I knew it was meant to be. Like most recipes involving scallops, the preparation of this dish is incredibly simple but the final product feels fancy. I paired this with the citrus salad with hazelnut vinaigrette and it was a fantastic spring meal – vibrant, fresh, and light. If you haven’t tried your hand at homemade scallops yet, let this be the recipe to break you in. You’re going to love it.