scallops, bacon, brussels sprouts... oh my.

Our local grocery store had dry-pack, frozen scallops on a ridiculously cheap sale. Suspicious, but willling to take a risk, we bought some. Thawed those babies out overnight, and got to cook them tonight. So... what to make with them? Well... we only had about 10 scallops--plenty as part of a bigger dish, but not a stand alone quantity, necessarily. First thing I thought of were some wonderful bacon-wrapped scallops I'd had before. Yummy. But that was an appetizer portion. I've had them seared in cream sauce before--served wtih pasta. That is always good, if a bit rich and "tried and true". Then I looked in the fridge--we had some brussels sprouts from the farmers market. Now, these go well with bacon, and they make a nice warm slaw when julienned and cooked in cream. So... could this all be brought together in one wonderful, glorious dish? I decided to experiment.

So, started some water, cooked penne pasta. Part 2 was the bacon-brussels sprouts in a cream sauce--basically, the pasta sauce. Started by browning about 1/3 lb. of bacon, threw in a finely diced shallot, and the julienned sprouts. With good stirring, seasoned with salt and pepper, this cooked up pretty nice. I then deglazed wtih some white wine, and cooked that down, then adding cream and grated parmesan cheese. All this was quite good, but a bit flat. The juice from half a lemon brightened it up beautifully. When the pasta was done to al dente, I added it to the sauce and cooked for another minute or so. Then, into pasta bowls.

Meanwhile, it was time to cook the scallops. I chose a very simple approach. Salt, a bit of pepper, a quick pan sear on each side for about a minute/side. When done, they went on top of the pasta.

The dish was amazing! The earthy sprouts, the sweet-briny scallops, the smoky bacon, the nutty cheese, the brightness from the citrus. It was a real flavor circus. Of course, I would not in any way call this a healthy dish--bacon, cream, pasta... but dang, it was good.

Now, if I make this again, and I probably will do something similar, I'll make a few changes, I think. Pancetta instead of bacon should add a bit of refinement. (or,, at least, a better bacon!) I think some toasted pinenuts or walnuts would be a nice addition. Otherwise, I think it's pretty much spot on.

Now, as to the wine: I paired it with a 2006 Dubois Vouvray. This is the 'classic' scallops wine, and it really sang with the food. This was not an expensive wine, by any stretch--just over $10/bottle. It is not what I'd call a high end Vouvray. But it was tasty, balanced, and paired wonderfully with dinner. The acid in the wine cut through the cream sauce. The slight sweetness in this demi-sec provided a good match to the sweetness of the scallops. The slight nutty notes highlighted the parmesan. In short, this was one of those really wonderful, serendipitous meals. I had no particular expectation that this would work out. I simply decided to "go for it", and see what happened. And, we were richly rewarded for that tonight.

I'm drowning in zucchini...

Not really. But we got a couple big ones in the farmers market, and had some left from a past week that weren't great, but needed used soon. So... what to do? Why, zucchini soup, of course. This made a wonderful lunch, paired with goat cheese and a baguette, and a gorgeous pinot blanc from Michigan.

The soup was uber-simple. Basically, dice up an onion (or 2-3, depending on how much soup you're making), some garlic. Sweat them down in butter and olive oil for about 5-10 minutes. Add coarsely chopped zukes--about 4X more in volume than onions, I'd say. Maybe a bit of celery, though that's optional. Sweat that all down for another 5-10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add some wine (white) if you want, and some chicken stock (homemade if you can; it's SO worth it). How much? Well, that depends on what you like your soup to be like. This chiefly determines whether you will have a thick, almost porridge-like soup, or a thinner item. More fluid = thinner soup. I like it thick and hearty. So I only did enough fluid to cover the zukes by maybe 1/2 inch. after 15-20 minutes in the fluid, take a stick blender to it (or puree it in batches in a blender, or whatever you like). Blend to a level you like for texture. Add cream to taste and health desires. If you really don't want to spend hte money, calories, and fat content on putting real cream in, you can get alot of the same effect by cooking a couple of potatoes into the soup at the start (add at the same time as zukes--and use starchy potatoes, not more waxy ones.) Adjust salt and pepper, and add some heat if you like from hot pepper flakes. At the end, I added a couple eggs, tempered in to prevent curdling. This helps hte texture, and thickens things up a bit. Yum!

with a soup like this, a baguette is almost a requirement. TOday, we added some goat cheese from a producer at the Farmer's Market. We get our goat yogurt from them, too. It's so good and fresh. Yum.

Finally, the wine... Left Foot Charley's 2008 Pinot Blanc. This is perhaps the most exceptional PB I've ever tasted. It outshines most from Alsace; it outshines most from Oregon. It's got a beautiful floral, minerally nose, with clover honey notes, an acidic palate, and an immense, mineral finish. There's more complexity and more beauty in this than you could ever expect, and the price is right at $18. Very deservedly, this wine won a double gold at the Michigan Wine competition, and sadly, the winery is virtually out of it. We've got 4 more bottles of it, and I intend to drink at least two more this year, and perhaps keep one for next year, and for grins, age one for a few years. I love its youthful fresh beauty, so I am reticent to age it, but I sense it's got the acid, minerals, and fruit to hold for a few years and perhaps become a real wonderful nutty aged white. So, we shall see.