Skewered, Succulent Scallops

had some spicy butter sauce on the side to give the dish some more oomph! to it

Ever since a family friend posted a picture of her scallop dish in social media, Phil has been craving for this particular dish.

I have on more than one occasion, done this. However, I always had to settle for the locally grown, supermarket variety. While they taste good, they shrink significantly after cooking, that one piece seems to be the size of a 25 cent coin.

Luckily, this time around, we found scallops that were U-10 to 12 in size (US grading standard on size, where 12 is the biggest).

This recipe is simple and guarantees that no scallop will be overcooked and rendered tough (similar to all those dumped in the bin by Gordon Ramsey in Hell's Kitchen).

For this recipe, you will need the ff.:

Ingredients:
Scallops               - 24 pieces
Bacon Rashers    - 12 slices, cut in half, lengthwise 
Butter                  - 1/2c, melted (tried it with unsalted and salted butter. Liked the salted butter more. Also, Anchor butter seemed silkier in consistency than the Ambassador French butter. Go local. )
Black Pepper      - 1/2 tsp
Cayenne Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Garlic                  - 6 cloves, peeled and macerated      
Garlic Salt          - 1/2 tsp
Wooden Toothpicks

Preparation:
1. Wrap the bacon slices around the scallops (if frozen, make sure it is thawed well), securing the rashers on to the scallops with a toothpick  

2. In a separate bowl, combine all the other ingredients, adjusting the amount of black pepper, garlic salt and cayenne pepper according to taste.

3. Dip the scallops one by one, coating it with the butter mixture. Save the leftover butter mixture for later, to coat the bacon wrapped scallops, post baking.

4. Preheat oven to 375°. Prepare a baking dish or pan covered with foil or parchment paper for easy clean up. I used a non stick griddle/grill and lined the buttered scallops. Try not to crowd them. This shall allow the wrapped scallops to caramelize and not boil while in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes.

5. Some use thick bacon slices. If this is what you have, you may want to pop em in the oven for 5 minutes, to cook and give the bacon a bit of color. Make sure that it is still flexible enough to wrap around the scallops. We used thin maple bacon (the Purefoods brand works very well). Some of the bacon's oil, scallops' juices along with the melted bacon may let your skewered bacon-wrapped scallops steam a bit. If your oven has a grill function, shift it to that and cook for about 5 minutes more. If not, try to drain out the liquids and bake 5 minutes more. The juice/butter/fat can be used later for a pasta dish.

6. Fresh from the oven, toss the bacon wrapped scallops in the leftover butter mixture, plate, serve and enjoy!

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Talented Mr. Bacon

Bacon is probably the only food in the planet that I could combine with my kids' hatest dish and have them declare that it was good eatin'. This cured pork, though unhealthy, makes a lot of dishes tasty, flavorful and downright delish!

Here's one of the many bacon wrapped dishes that you could easily make at home, the BACON ENOKI SCALLOP!

Ingredients:

• 250 grams maple bacon, sliced in the middle, vertically
• 200 grams scallops, shucked and washed. We get ours from the supermarket, ready to cook.
• 1 bundle or 1 small can enoki mushrooms
• a pinch of garlic salt

Preparation:

1. Take a bacon strip and arrange a scallop and some enoki mushrooms on one side. 
2. From that side slowly roll the bacon strip, making sure the scallops are wrapped. The enoki may stick out.
3. Put the roll on a non stick pan. 
4. When all the rolling has been done, and the bacon rolls have been placed on the baking pan, sprinkle a pinch of garlic salt over them.
5. I used the grill function of our over to cook this. You may use a broiler or grill these but you'll have to secure 'em with a toothpick.
6. Cook till the bacon is done (see pic above)

For a cocktail party, you may make a variety of these and serve as appetizers:

• wrap deveined and butterflied prawns along with some asparagus spears, preferably the fresh ones. Brush a little teriyaki sauce before grilling.
• wrap some chicken liver. Secure with a toothpick. Beat an egg and dip the liver/bacon in that. Coat with flour. Deep fry.
• wrap some chicken strips and bell pepper slices. Bake, broil or steam
• The possibilities are endless!!

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!