First, place in a colander and run some water over them and leave in sink to let them thaw out. Or, move to the refrigerator and let them thaw there overnight or a day or two.
Pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
In a nonstick sauté pan heat up equal parts olive oil and butter (real butter, Euro or Irish, or whatever high end real butter you can find) heat this on medium to medium low NOT ON HIGH OR MEDIUM HIGH).
While butter melts, sprinkle a healthy amount of paprika, bit of cayenne pepper, garlic powder (not garlic salt, but powder) into the pan on top of the butter/oil. Stir that in with wooden spoon. Now turn the heat up to med high. Once butter starts to bubble up pretty good, slightly turning brown, add the scallops. Don’t over crowd, but they can be touching sides. Sauté for about 60 seconds. Shake the pan and see if the scallops “break loose” and don’t stick to the bottom. Turn over and let cook another 20 or so seconds.
Remove from pan on to plate. Squeeze fresh lemon juice and white wine into pan, add another Pat of butter and whisk that together getting up any crusty bits stuck to bottom of pan. Taste, add S & P as desired. Pour pan sauce over scallops… garnish with whatever chopped fresh green you like - perhaps basil, cilantro or flat parsley. Serve with rice of choice. Green leaf side salad with vinaigrette and some toasted, Crusty Eurobread… baguette or whatever. Glass of dry white wine
