Seared scallops salad with blood orange vinaigrette

Every once in a while, I come across a recipe from one of the lovely blogs I follow which makes me go “Wow! I need to make that dish NOW!”. Then I’ll look at the ingredients and be disappointed because a key ingredient would not be easily available in Singapore or would cost an unjustifiable amount, no matter how delicious the recipe appeared to be. That’s what happened when I saw this simple but eye-catching recipe for a blood orange vinaigrette on Helene Dujardin’s blog Tartelette. As always, Helene’s photos were beautiful and inviting – the pop of bright colours of the blood oranges was enough to make me want to sink my teeth into some blood oranges right there and then!

As luck would have it though, that week I spotted some blood oranges from the US at a local supermarket (and again this weekend just gone so I’ve bought more), and they didn’t cost me too much either, just a little bit pricier than normal oranges. I was all set to whisk up some of Helene’s vinaigrette.

I love trying out new homemade salad vinaigrettes and this one paired perfectly with the seared scallops (as suggested by Helene in her post) and greens I put together. I’m not one for store-bought salad dressings which are generally full of refined sugars and salt which to me, completely defeats my purpose of eating a salad in the first place, that is to try eating healthily! So, if you are shopping around for beautiful, fresh vegetables and fruits to put together a feel-good nutritional salad, make sure to whisk up an equally healthy salad dressing to go with it.

This dressing fits the bill and is so easy to make – no food processor or special kitchen equipment required, just a small whisk or a fork if you don’t have one. There’s no excuse not to make this vinaigrette really, unless of course if you can’t find the star ingredient where you are! The citrus base from the blood orange juice made for a light and sweet vinaigrette that was just about right with the scallops, perfectly seared by Chef K.

Please check out Helene’s recipe for her blood orange vinaigrette. To get a 1/4 cup of blood orange juice, I needed one large orange.

What you’ll need

• 10 medium scallops, shelled
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• black pepper and sea salt to season
• Helene’s blood orange vinaigrette
• salad leaves of your choice – I used baby spinach and rocket
• cherry tomatoes

To make your salad

1. Coat the scallops with olive oil and season slightly with black pepper. This can be done 1-2 hours in advance to allow for the oil to be absorbed (reduces sticking and spitting when cooking).
2. Whisk up Helene’s vinaigrette and set aside.
3. Heat a griddle pan (or small frying pan) until smoking hot, sprinkle some sea salt on the scallops just before searing them for about 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Check that the scallops are done by pressing lightly with your finger. They should give a bit of bounce and resistance. Remove the cooked scallops from the pan and set aside.
4. Arrange your choice of salad leaves and cherry tomatoes on individual plates, place the scallops on top and drizzle with the blood orange vinaigrette.

Yields 2 servings as a light meal 

Note: I had plenty of vinaigrette leftover which I poured into an airtight glass container. It should keep well in the fridge for 3 days.