Spaghettini with Pine Nuts and Spicy Scallops

By aiati

Recipe courtesy of Diane Sturgis, Food and Wine Books, Pasta.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 3/4 pound spaghettini
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound sea scallops
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 scallions, cut into thin slices, white and green portions kept separate
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus 1/2 cup whole leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Step 1

1. In a small frying pan, toast the pine nuts over moderate heat, stirring, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove.

2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the spaghettini until just done, about 9 minutes. Drain.

3. While the pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick frying pan over moderately high heat. Add the scallops and sear until brown on the bottom, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn the scallops and sear until brown on the other side, another minute or two. Remove the scallops from the pan and cut them into quarters.

4. Reduce the heat to moderate. Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons oil in the pan used to toast the pine nuts. Add the garlic, white scallion slices, chopped parsley, red-pepper flakes and salt. Cook, stirring, until the scallions soften, about 2 minutes.

5. Drain the spaghettini. Toss the pasta with the toasted pine nuts, scallops, scallion mixture, scallion greens and parsley leaves.