Scallops and Pistachio Pesto Pasta

Oh my goodness, I'm BACK! It was a long month of living in the dark ages while my PC was cleansed of an insane virus. I've never had a computer virus like that...and I lost everything that wasn't backed up. So now I'm just trying to slowly put my PC-life back together. On the upside, I now have Windows 7 and all of my pop up windows are pink :)

But that did leave you all with a month of unposted recipes. I'll do my best to make up for a few of them, and they'll certainly be out of order (based on what photos I re-acquire faster). So let's get it started with a bang and I want everyone to say "Pistachio Pesto Pasta" 5 times fast. This recipe comes from The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook, a book so large in size and scope I'm only just beginning to tackle it.
Scallops and Pistachio Pesto Pasta

1 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 Tbs chopped pistachios (good luck finding them unpeeled...but it gave Bobby something to do so he felt like he was contributing)
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
Pinch of salt
Pinch of paprika
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 tsp olive oil (just eyeball it)
3/4 lb sea scallops (if you don't like large scallops, you can use bay scallops which are more bite-sized)
1/4 cup flour
Another pinch of salt
2 tsp butter
2 cups angel hair pasta or thin spaghetti

Place first 9 ingredients into a food processor (doesn't have to be a large one). Process until mixture is smooth and scrape the sides with a spatula to get everything. It doesn't look like enough when you blend it, but trust me it will be. Then, combine the scallops, flour, and pinch of salt in a large Ziploc bag--shake to coat. Heat butter in large skillet over med-high heat. Add scallops and cook for 3.5-5 minutes on each side until done. While scallops are cooking, boil pasta and drain. Move pasta into a mixing bowl and coat with pistachio pesto. Split pasta into serving dishes, and top with scallops. Sprinkle with remaining black pepper and parsley flakes for color.

And because this is a Cooking Light recipe, you should all know that it's 556 calories per serving and 15.2 g of fat. Overall it goes pretty quickly and you could have this done in under 30 minutes without a problem--thus just giving the illusion that it's fancy and you slaved away all day. It turned out that I don't like scallops as much as I thought--texture is a little funny and I couldn't tell they were cooked thoroughly--so next time I'll plan to use smaller bay scallops. Also worth noting that scallops are in season and can be found fresh until later in the Spring.

Ta-Dah! I'm back!