Scallops & Pasta with Fresh Tomato Cream Sauce

This pasta dish builds a lush tomato cream sauce from scratch in the same pan you cook the scallops in. Bay scallops get a quick sauté in butter with white wine, shallots, garlic, and chives, then come out while the cooking liquid becomes the foundation of the sauce.

Fresh tomatoes and heavy cream reduce together by half, then the reserved scallop liquid (now infused with fresh basil) goes back in and reduces again. That double reduction concentrates the flavors into a sauce that’s rich but not heavy, with bright tomato acidity cutting through the cream.

The scallops go back in for just one minute at the very end. Bay scallops are small and delicate, and even a minute too long turns them rubbery. Toss everything with pasta shells so the sauce pools inside each one.

Pro Tips

• Cook the scallops for just one minute in the first round. They finish cooking when they go back in at the end
• Reduce the cream-tomato mixture by half, then reduce again after adding the scallop liquid. The double reduction is what gives this sauce its body
• Add fresh basil to the reserved liquid while it sits so the heat extracts flavor
• Use the best fresh tomatoes you can find. Canned won’t give you the same brightness

Variations

• Use sea scallops, halved, instead of bay scallops for a meatier bite
• Swap pasta shells for linguine or fettuccine
• Add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the sauce for gentle heat