Sea Scallops with Saffron Aoli

Happy 7th anniversary to me and hubby. As I've said on my posts yesterday, hubby is out at work and school the whole day. So we celebrated our anniversary by going out to lunch yesterday. Today, I wanted to have a nice dinner waiting for him when he got home.

I watched Claire Robinson make this on the Food Network and wanted to make this for our special day. Hubby loves scallops, so I thought he would really enjoy this. It was a really easy, yet elegant, dish to make. But I didn't realize how costly saffron can be. The lady at the checkout stand asked me what I was using it for and I told her that I was trying it out on a new recipe I found. She went on and said she hopes it turns out well because saffron was quite expensive. lol. I have never used saffron before, but I hope to find other great recipes to use with it.

The scallops came out quite delicious and hubby really enjoyed it. This 7th anniversary is a little more nostalgic for me than the other anniversaries we've celebrated. So I wanted to make this dinner memorable as well.

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tsp. orange zest

a pinch of saffron threads

1/2 cup mayonnaise

salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil

12-16 large sea scallops

black pepper

1) Combine orange and saffron in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for about 1 minute until orange juice is infused with saffron. Stir in orange zest and remove from heat to cool.

2) Mix orange mixture with mayonnaise in a small bowl until combined. Season with salt and set aside while you cook the scallops.

3) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pat scallops dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. When the oil is rippling, and scallops and sear, turning only once, until golden brown but still opaque in the center, about 2-3 minutes each side. Remove scallops from skillet and serve with aoli sauce drizzled over them.