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.