Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Maple Bourbon Glazed Scallops with Squash and Sage Orzo


I felt like I was dining at a fancy restaurant tonight. Ok, I feel like that every night. But tonight was even more so with these lovely, fresh scallops I picked up at the Whalesbone Oyster and Fish Supply shop on Kent. When I was paying for them a gentleman waiting for his sandwich asked me how I planned to cook them. I will be giving them to my husband, I said. And hopefully he'll do something with maple. Ever since I had the maple scallop appetizer at Petit Bill's a while back, I can't seem to picture them without it.

The visually striking presentation of this dish alone had my mouth watering. My husband mixed together equal parts of maple syrup and brandy (he would have used bourbon but we didn't have any so he added a bit of vanilla to the brandy to make up for it), a little bit of molasses, and some beef bouillon and boiled the mixture until half of it disappeared. Zig zags of this lovely, syrupy sauce was drizzled over the scallops and then dotted with cubes of pancetta. Simple orzo was mixed with pepper squash, making it one of the best sides I've had in a long time. A golden squash triangle gave it a radiant backdrop.


Can't rave enough about this dish. I'll be dreaming of scallops tonight and all the fantastic ways my husband can cook them.

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