New England Garlic Butter Seafood Pot
City Fish Tip: Add the seafood in stages. Potatoes need time, steamers need steam, and scallops need a hot dry pan. Throwing everything into the pot at once can leave you with tough scallops and undercooked potatoes. Serve family-style with plenty of broth spooned over everything, lemon wedges and crusty bread for soaking up the garlic butter.
Serving Size: Serves 4–6
Ingredients
- 2 lbs fresh Maine steamers, cleaned and purged
- 1 lb fresh sea scallops
- 1 lb large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1½ lbs baby red or Yukon Gold potatoes
- 3 ears corn, each cut into 3–4 pieces
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1½ cups seafood stock
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 lemon, plus wedges for serving
- 1½ tbsp Old Bay seasoning, plus more to taste
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- Black pepper
- Crusty bread for serving
Instructions
- Start the potatoes. Add the potatoes to a large Dutch oven or stockpot with the seafood stock, white wine and about 1 tablespoon Old Bay. Cover and simmer for 10–12 minutes, until the potatoes are almost fork-tender.
- Add the corn. Add the corn and cook for another 4–5 minutes.
- Build the garlic butter. Add 4 tablespoons butter, half of the minced garlic and the red pepper flakes to the pot. Stir everything together and bring the liquid back to a simmer.
- Steam the seafood. Add the steamers and shrimp. Cover tightly and cook for about 5–7 minutes, stirring once, until the steamers have opened and the shrimp are opaque. Discard any steamers that don’t open after cooking.
- Give the scallops their own moment. While the steamers cook, pat the scallops very dry and season lightly with Old Bay and black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a hot skillet. Sear the scallops without moving them for about 2 minutes, flip, and cook another 1–2 minutes depending on thickness. Remove as soon as they’re opaque and just cooked through.
- Make the finishing butter. Lower the skillet heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and remaining garlic. Cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Squeeze in half the lemon and spoon that garlic-lemon butter over the scallops.
- Bring it all together. Add the seared scallops and their garlic butter to the seafood pot. Toss very gently so you don’t break them apart. Finish with parsley, fresh lemon juice, black pepper and a little more Old Bay if needed.
