Scallops with leek, corn and carrots

It snowed here-finally!!! We spent the day in and out of snow clothes! We had dinner with friends tonight and I had some frozen sea scallops that I had bought at Costco, Trader Joe's used to sell them, but stopped.

I defrosted the scallops in a bowl of hot water for about 5 minutes. While the scallops thawed, I heated 1 tbs. of olive oil in a large nonstick pan on high. I add in 1 leek that I had thinly sliced and rinsed in a bowl of cold water to get the dirt out. While that sauteed, I cut 2 peeled carrots on the diagonal into small pieces (maybe 1") and threw those into the pan with the leeks. I added in 1/2 C. of chicken stock, covered and let cook for about 5 minutes, or until the carrots were slightly soft. I had 2 ears of leftover cooked corn from last night's dinner which I cut the kernels off, and added to the pan. I added in a pinch of salt and a good large pinch of black pepper. Then I removed the whole mixture from the pan.

I drained the water from the scallops, sliced them in half lengthwise and sprinkled a little of my seasoned flour on each side. I added in another tbs. of olive oil to the pan on high and added in the scallops. They cook very quickly and should only be turned once. They take about 45 seconds per side. The little bit of flour on each side will give the scallops a nice brown crust. I flipped them once and added in the juice from 1/2 a lemon before removing them from the pan. I added the vegetable mixture to the top of the scallops and served them.

They were amazing. The kids ate pears for dinner- go figure!