Pan-Seared Scallops with Lemongrass Sauce

The recipe for this dish comes from Carlos' French Restaurant in Highland Park, Chicago (now closed). I'm just going to talk about how to make the lemongrass sauce. It's fabulous.

Regarding the scallops, just make sure you dry your scallops before searing them in about 1 tsp olive oil. That's the trick to golden scallops.

After removing the scallops from the pan, cook the spinach until just wilted. Remove and follow with asparagus, chanterelles (if you like), and sliced cherry tomatoes.

But first, the lemongrass sauce...

• 1 quart heavy cream

• 5 stalks of fresh lemongrass

• Juice of two small limes

• 1/4 cup simple syrup (that's half water/half sugar, reduced)

Pour the cream into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and simmer. Add the sliced lemongrass.

Cook down until reduced by about half. Strain. Add the lime juice and simple syrup.

Toss the cooked vegetables together with 1 tbsp chopped shallot, 2 tbsp unsalted butter and 1 tbsp minced chives.

Pour a base of lemongrass sauce and plate vegetables and scallops on top.

This sauce can be frozen for later to serve with shrimp, whitefish or more scallops. Enjoy!