moroccan scallops with eggplant eonfit

I've been craving scallops for the past week, so I got really excited when I found this recipe for Moroccan scallops with eggplant confit. Confit...doesn't it sound so fancy? Maybe because it's French. Anyway, the recipe calls for alot of ingredients, but it's well worth it! I slightly modified the recipe by keeping the skin on the eggplants (because they are rich in antioxidants), used lemon zest and juice of one lemon, and cooked white rice instead of couscous. This dish was so full of flavor that I didn't have to add any red pepper flakes ;o) TIP: season the scallops first so they absorb the flavor


Recipe from vanilla bean cafe:

1 medium eggplant
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cayenne
1 tsp grated lemon rind lemon zest of one lemon
1 cup chopped white onions
1 T chopped garlic
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 T lemon juice lemon juice of one lemon
2 T chopped chives
12 large scallops
2 T unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Cut strips of skin from eggplant to make a striped effect. Cut eggplant into ½-inch-thick slices. Brush with 2 T oil, season with salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes turning once or until browned. Remove from heat and cool. Cut into ½-inch (1-cm) dice.

Combine ginger, paprika, cumin, cayenne and lemon rind. Heat remaining 2 T oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add half of spice mixture and cook another 30 seconds.

Add eggplant and tomatoes, stir together, reduce heat and cook slowly for 25 minutes or until mixture is very thick and tasty. Stir in lemon juice and chives and season with salt and pepper. Reheat when needed.

Sprinkle scallops with remaining spice mixture and season with salt and pepper.

Heat butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallops and sear about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Scallops should be opaque in the centre.

Boil 1 cup of water. When water comes to a boil, add 1 cup couscous and remove from heat and stir. Let sit for 5 min.

Spoon 1 scoop of couscous onto serving plate, then spoon eggplant mixture over couccous and then top with scallops.

Serves 4 (3 scallops per person).