Smoked Black Cherry Scallops - cooking recipe

Ingredients

hickory wood chips
2 pounds fresh black cherries, pitted
3 tablespoons cracked peppercorns
1 pound large sea scallops, patted dry
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Preparation

Soak hickory wood chips in warm water, about 30 minutes.
Fill a smoking box with a mixture of dry and soaked wood chips. Place on a gas grill, cover, and heat over high heat until smoke begins to develop.
Reduce heat to as low as possible without turning off the grill. Arrange cherries on the other side of the grill from the smoking box and away from direct heat. Smoke cherries until they reach desired level of smoky flavor, 1 to 2 hours.
Transfer smoked cherries to a blender; puree to make sauce.
Place cracked peppercorns on a shallow dish. Dip both ends of each scallop in the peppercorns.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add scallops, pepper-side down, and butter. Cook, basting scallops with melted butter using a spoon, until golden, about 2 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until scallops are golden brown on the second side, about 2 minutes more.
Serve spoonfuls of smoked cherry sauce over scallops.