Julia Childs had it right when she said, “Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”  I am tremendously interested in butter and I love to cook with it! It can be a very versatile ingredient by adding depth of flavor, richness and a nutty flavor if it is browned and not burned.  I love to use it to both thicken and add creaminess to sauces.  When I was younger and we would go out to dinner as a family I would always order my favorite dish “Angel Hair pasta with Butter Sauce!”  In my mind there was nothing better than adding butter to pasta and mixing a little parmesan cheese.  I decided to make the more adult version of my favorite childhood dish and added scallops because they pair so well with butter.

Linguine with Scallops and Brown Butter

1 pound fresh linguine

1 lemon (zested)

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

16 medium sized scallops

1 cup frozen peas

4 tbs butter

3 tbs olive oil

Kosher salt

Ground Pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, lemon zest, 1 tbs olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle bread crumb mixture on baking sheet and put in oven for 6 minutes until lightly browned.  Remove bread crumb mixture from pan so it doesn’t burn.

Pat the scallops dry and season with salt and pepper.  Add 2 tbs of olive oil to large frying pan and heat until the oil shimmers.  Place the scallops in the pan and cook for 4 minutes, flip the scallops and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the scallops are browned and opaque. Remove scallops from pan and add butter and juice from the lemon and cook the butter until it is browned but not burned. Bring a pot of water to boil and season with salt and olive oil.  Add the pasta and cook until almost done approximately 3 minutes (if you are using fresh pasta), add the frozen and peas and cook for two minutes.  Drain the pasta but reserve a 1/4 cup of cooking water.  Turn the flame back onto the butter sauce and add the scallops back to the pan and pour pasta, peas and reserved pasta water into the pan.  Toss the pasta until coated with sauce.

Garnish the pasta with bread crumb mixture and additional parmesan cheese to taste.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did!