Things I Eat: Scallops

We're getting weekend dinners back on track - now that it's not 100 degrees in my apartment.

What You Need

• Scallops: Because, did you see the title? 
• Pancetta: Italian bacon. Better than Canadian bacon. Not quite American.
• Olive oil: You know, we're sauteing. 
• Garlic powder: Because. . .garlic powder.
• Onion: About a half of one. How can you NOT have an onion?
• Bourbon: For more than just your drink.

What You Do
Thaw out your scallops if you got the froze stuff that might have been on sale. This bag says "family size" so I know it will feed either me OR my husband.

Now, I am basing my recipe here off of this Pan Seared Scallops with Asparagus thing. Apparently, one scallop under some asparagus is a meal.

IDK about that.

I do know these are slightly smaller than what you get in a restaurant or what people who watch the Food Network a lot would like. Whatever.

First, chop up the onion. I used about half of a large onion and I chopped it up really, really fine. I also thawed and patted dry my baby-sized scallops.

I bought the Citterio type of pancetta from. .somewhere. It was already diced which means I have less work than EVER to do!

Time for another Old Fashioned - and time to eat most of the scallops raw. You can do that. People who also eat food don't suggest it. I did do it. They are delicious raw. Since my scallops had been frozen for over 3 days - probably longer - the odds of anything harmful to me surviving is pretty slim. Or non-existent. Whatever. I eat a lot of stuff raw.

Ok, Get your pan with your olive oil all nice and hot. Then put in the pancetta and onion because that's the bomb. Keep cooking it - maybe for a couple minutes - until it is browning and the onions are getting nice and transparent.

I also added a little garlic powder but no salt. I assumed this was going to bring it's own salt. It didn't. Maybe you want to add salt. I'm not going to tell you how to live.

Remove this beautiful stuff from the pan but keep as much of the liquid behind. Add a little more olive oil if you need. Then saute up your scallops. Depending on the size - you will cook them about 1-2 minutes per side.Then remove them but keep as much of the juices in the pan.

Since I actually like my raw, I very lightly cooked them. I also had a couple drinks at this point, so. . .

Add back in the pancette, a touch of olive oil and a splash of bourbon to deglaze and/or cook off the alcohol. Doesn't take that long. You are actually suppose to use white wine or vermouth. I don't ever want to use wine because I can't have wine and I didn't have any vermouth. So. . .bourbon it is.

I did make some asparagus - the grilled stuff from Trader Joe's that I popped in the microwave. Boom. Done.

And that is what's for dinner. I think next time I will use applewood smoked bacon - you can really play around with that. I also felt it needed a little more salt. But, the flavor was good. Really, how could this go wrong? Can't.

It's very simple to make and delicious.

Cheers!