The Sunday Dinner Table: Antoni Porowski's Scallops with Burst Cherry Tomatoes

At The Sunday Paper, we want to inspire you to gather at your table…virtually or with friends and family…and open your heart and mind to conversations that will move the needle. After all, the dinner table is where we connect on topics and map out the changes we can all make that'll really move the needle.

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Meet our Sunday Paper Chef: Antoni PorowskiLearn about his mission: A television personality, author, home cook, actor, and model, Antoni Porowski is best known as the food and wine expert on Netflix's Emmy Award-winning sensation Queer Eye. With a passion for food that is completely irresistible, he has also worked as a food consultant and private chef. His new book. Antoni: Let's Do Dinner, is an invitation into his own kitchen.Our Conversation Starter: This week, Maria's talking about the need for more "Ted Lasso" figures in all aspects of our lives. What does this mean to you, and how can we help each other be good coaches to ourselves and one another?Antoni's Recipe: Scallops with Burst Cherry TomatoesSERVES 4For this dinner update of a Porowski family summer rice salad, scallops are briefly seared in a skillet, and then tomatoes mingle with the glaze in the pan to form a sweet, jammy sauce. They're served over rice and corn, strewn with fresh mint. Look for 'dry-packed” scallops, which are not soaked in chemical preservatives. They're much tastier and easier to sear to a beautiful golden brown than their 'wet” counterparts. Pull off the tiny rectangular bit of muscle from each scallop, because they are tough.

• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 cup plus 1/2 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• Kosher salt
• 1 pound sea scallops, rinsed, patted dry, and tough side muscle removed (see headnote)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup coarsely
• chopped fresh mint (optional, but I love)

Combine the rice, corn, 1/2 teaspoon of the oil, and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan, add the water specified on the rice package, and cook according to the package instructions.Meanwhile, season the scallops with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot.Add the scallops and cook, undisturbed, until the undersides are deeply golden, 2 to 3 minutes, then turn and cook until just cooked through, 30 seconds to 1 minute more. Transfer the scallops to a plate. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil to the skillet and heat until hot. Add the tomatoes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are golden, jammy, and burst, 7 to 9 minutes.Divide the rice mixture among four plates. Top with the scallops and tomatoes, and then the mint, if using. Drizzle with oil, grind over more pepper, and serve.

Excerpted from ANTONI: LET'S DO DINNER © 2021 by Antoni Porowski with Mindy Fox. Photography © 2021 by Paul Pressman. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.