Another Cooking Fear Bites the Dust

It’s Tuesday which has me excited for several reasons—

1.Glee comes on tonight! And this week it features guest star Neil Patrick Harris which I am very excited about.

2.Also coming on tonight—Lost! I have been a Lost fan since Season 1 (which is still, in my opinion, the best season ever) and even though I have not completely understood all of the series’ twists and turns, I have seen it through and I am really excited about the remaining two episodes and hopeful that it will all come together in the end.

3.I faced another one of my cooking fears in making dinner tonight….scallops. Now I am not really sure why I have been so reluctant to try my hand at this over the years…maybe because scallops done right are wonderful but scallops done poorly are just plain gross?

I decided to try a relatively simple preparation to start with—Seared Scallops with Spinach and Bacon.  I mean come on—scallops seared in bacon fat? How could you possibly go wrong with that?

Overall I would give the recipe and resulting dish a B. Definitely an A for presentation—Jason and I both thought it looked delightful. But I was a bit disappointed with the result. Part of it was certainly my fault—the scallops were not all the same size and I think the smaller ones ended up suffering in order for the larger ones to cook all the way through. In retrospect, I probably should have pulled the smaller ones off sooner. Also, I accidentally bought a pre-washed package of regular spinach instead of baby spinach and did not realize my mistake until I added the spinach to the pan. The baby spinach probably would have been a bit more tender. Overall, I’d say dinner was good, but not as great as I was hoping for.  But I was happy to have successfully faced down another cooking fear.

Seared Scallops with Spinach and Bacon
Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
3 slices of center-cut bacon
6 jumbo sea scallops (about 1 lb)
½ white onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 ounces fresh spinach
Salt and pepper

1.Cook bacon in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp (do not use non-stick as it will prevent the scallops from properly searing). Remove back from pan and set aside, reserving 1 TBL drippings in the pan.  Increase heat to high.
2.Pat scallops dry with paper towels. Sprinkle scallops evenly with salt and pepper. Add scallops to pan, cooking 2-3 minutes per side or until done. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.
3.Reduce heat to medium-high. Add onion and garlic to pan and sauté for about three minutes, stirring frequently. Add half of spinach, cook 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add remaining spinach and cook until just wilted. Remove from heat.  Add salt and pepper.
4.Divide spinach mixture among plates and top with chopped bacon and scallops.