Last weekend, I got together with two of my friends (Anastasia from LandOfPleasantEating and Marqel from Pics.Zip) to prepare this amazing dish — Beet Pappardelle and Scallops.
We spent the entire day cooking and shooting tasty-style videos. It was a blast and I can’t wait to share more videos with you from working with Marqel!
The inspiration for this dish came from a meal I had at one of my favorite restaurants, Wine Market Bistro about two years ago.
The color beets can add to a dish is astounding. They’re also quite good for you too. Beets are:
- Rich in vitamins & minerals
- Rich in antioxidants
- Aphrodisiacs
- Energy boosting
- Healthy for babies (puréed)
I enjoy pairing scallops with something more filling, like pasta since they aren’t the most hardy protein. The scallops and pasta in this dish go so well together. Originally, my intent was to top the scallops with a corn polenta because I have been recently obsessed with how Minnow prepares theirs. Unfortunately, that was a fail for me! Instead, I added fresh corn which gave this dish a nice texture, and it was just as satisfying.
Having never made a beet purée before, I thought it might be difficult and time consuming. However, I found it to be quite simple and fun to make. It’s always exciting when you try something out for the first time, have no expectations, and end up blowing yourself away!
Making Beet Pappardelle with Scallops sounds like a complicated and sophisticated dish, right? Well, it’s fairly simple to make the beet pappardelle, and scallops only take a few minutes to cook. Learn all my tips and tricks for cooking scallops and how to make them better than restaurant quality, here.
You’ll definitely impress all your guests with this dish. They’ll think you’re a master chef who slaved in the kitchen for hours! If you make the beet purée ahead of time, this dish will easily fall into the 30 minutes or less category.
This recipe makes roughly two cups of beet purée. Refrigerate or freeze what you don’t use and save it for another time! Recipes using a beet purée can be made even faster when it’s made ahead of time. I used the leftover beet purée and pappardelle for meal prep the following week, stay tuned for that recipe!
Beet Pappardelle With Scallops
Ingredients
- 3 large beets, peeled & cut into 2” cubes
- 12 oz pappardelle pasta
- 6 large scallops
- 1/2 cup fresh corn (about 2 ears)
- 7 oz creme fraiche
- 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup parsley (2 tbs reserved)
- 1/2 lemon, zest only
- 3 tbs minced shallot
- 3 tbs minced garlic
- 3 tbs Olive oil
- 2 tbs unsalted butter
- Salt & pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Toss beets in a large mixing bowl with 2 tbs of olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Roast beets for 45 minutes or until they are tender enough to poke with a fork.
- Heat a medium sized pan with 1 tbs olive oil on medium-high heat. Once heated, add butter, garlic, and shallot, and apple cider vinegar. Saute until shallot begins to turn translucent, about 1.5 minutes.
- Add beets and saute in the shallot/garlic mixture for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Transfer beets from pan to an immersion blender or food processor with crème fraîche and parsley, purée until smooth.
- Bring a saucepan to a boil, add corn, and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Cook pappardelle according to package directions. Drain pot, leaving about 1/4 cup of water in the pot.
- Transfer pappardelle back to pot and mix with 1/2 cup beet purée.
- In a clean, non-stick pan, sear scallops with 1 tbs olive oil and 1 tbs butter. Read more about searing scallops perfectly here.
- When scallops are finished, place them atop the pappardelle and finish with parsley and lemon zest.
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OMG JZ: Made this last night for our friends, so lovely to look at and incredibly nuanced flavors. Everyone raved! Went nicely with a Sancerre.
That sounds amazing!