one of the best things that i've found to do with FRESH scallops is to slice 'em thin, squeeze a touch of lemon on 'em and eat 'em raw. if that doesn't float your boat, there many many things that you can do with them.
if you have a cast iron skillet, you can try your hand at blackening, it's easy.
coat the scallops liberly in your favorite cajun spice <if you need a recipe please let me know> and then when your pan is HOT!! quickly dip the scallop in oil and deposit into the pan...this will cause a great deal of smoke <so have a well ventilate area or do outdoors>, after about a minute, flip 'em over, wait another minute and then remove from pan. service with a nice remulade sauce.
the main thing with scallops is not to over cook them, once you do that you have this tiny little rubber hocky puck.
if you want to have a little fun with them, get sesame oil, black sesame seeds, wasabi, gari <pickled ginger>, miran, and a healthy amount of garlic.
use miran and garlic to marinade the scallops <about 30 mins>, then in a saute pan, take a small amount of sesame oil <this will burn at low temps so you have to temper it with another type of oil or use butter> and butter...add the garlic from the marinade and cook until tender. add in the scallops and cook for about 2-3 mins...sprinkle the sesame seeds over top when you remove from pan and serve with gari and wasabi.
enjoy!!
A.