Scallop

Wake up your taste buds with this lowfat recipe. It is sure to satisfy — and provide a spicy kick!

Quickly braised cabbage adds subtle crunch to scallops infused with a combination of warm, aromatic spices.

Scallops are rich in iodine, essential to a healthy thyroid and metabolism.

These plump, fried hors d'oeuvres, a seafood variation on Chile's signature baked onion-and-meat-filled empanadas, are hot and juicy. Have plenty of napkins ready.

Beurre blanc—the classic French butter sauce—is a cinch to prepare and has a tendency to make just about anything taste better. This take on it uses the scallops' juices to add complexity.

The secret ingredient in this dish is a surprisingly modest one: grapefruit. Its tartness balances the unashamed, almost swaggering richness of scallops bathed in a butter sauce.

Golden-brown scallops are gorgeous when framed by a bright pea purée. An infusion of curry and lime juice invigorates this dish.

Juicy scallops are rich in selenium, a mineral that protects cells from disease-causing damage in the body.

You could hardly do better in summer than to combine shellfish and tomatoes—their balance of sweet and savory seems to bring out the best in both. Here, the seafood retains its succulence, while its juices combine with the vinaigrette; you'll want to sop up the excess with bread, or at least eat it with a spoon.

Though it's not a true ceviche, since the scallops are already cooked when they hit the marinade, the classic combination of refreshing citrus acid from orange and lime juice, heat from jalapeño, crunch from cucumber, and sweetness from the scallops themselves becomes even more intriguing with the added layer of flavor from the grill. This is the perfect way to start off this menu, as the bold marinade stirs up the appetite for the substantial main course.

Scallops halved horizontally cook fast and make a meaty, substantial meal — especially when accompanied by this rich white-wine sauce studded with peas and chopped chives.

Sautéing scallops and asparagus adds depth to their subtle flavors — and the dish only gets better with the addition of a silky beurre blanc–style sauce.

If you wish, feel free to make these hors d'oeuvres on a regular charcoal or gas grill instead of a grill pan.

This fragrant soup from Sam Hazen, executive chef at Tao in New York City and Las Vegas, is brimming with lean protein. Perfect for chilly weather!

Bacon and scallops always pair beautifully, but it's the mixture of sugar and spice that transforms these easy-to-make hors d'oeuvres.

This light chowder with a subtle note of smokiness really lets the scallops shine.

Gael Greene shared these recipes with Epicurious from her new book, Insatiable. On a writing retreat at the cabin of screenwriter Vicki Polon, we put together this fragrant soup.

Editor's note:
The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Grace Young's book The Breath of a Wok. Young also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. For Young's article on Cantonese cooking, click here. Chef Yip Wing Wah, of the Spring Moon Restaurant in Hong Kong, garnishes these exquisite dumplings with a dollop of crab roe, which can be substituted for the carrots.

This dish — the result of a conversation between two food editors who had just returned from opposite parts of the country — almost made itself. Paul Grimes came back from Charleston talking about the creamy stone-ground grits, shrimp, and collard greens of chef Kevin Johnson at Anson, and Kemp Minifie returned from Seattle to tell us about the scallops over braised cabbage with foie gras vinaigrette that Johnathan Sundstrom serves at Lark. We loved the idea of both dishes so much, we met somewhere in between, with this simpler recipe.

The trick: Just add a slurry.
To thicken soups, Terry Conlan of Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas, adds slurries, cocktails of flour stirred with a low- or nonfat liquid, such as broth or skim milk. The texture of his Bay Scallop and Corn Chowder comes from a mix of flour and fat-free cream. Use slurries for any soup that calls for full-fat cream by substituting a slurry of flour and nonfat half-and-half.