If you've never cooked scallops before, this recipe is a good place to start.
Scallops cook very quickly so are easily over cooked, the bacon wrapping protects them also giving them a lovely flavour.
This is a stunning starter that is perfect for a romantic meal.
You will need the following ingredients:
60g lamb's lettuce
6 large prepared scallops (with corals if you prefer, it will make the sauce more intense with them)
6 thin rashers of lean unsmoked bacon
low fat cooking spray/oil
3 tablespoons of fish stock
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)
To Cook:
1) Arrange the lettuce on two plates. Gently cut the corals (if you have them on the scallops) from the scallops and put four of them aside. Finely chop the remaining two with a sharp knife.
2) Using the back of a knife, gently stretch and flatten the bacon so that the meaty part of the rasher is long enough to wrap once around a scallop.
Secure the bacon around each scallop with a cocktail stick, making sure the two flat sides are clear of the cocktail stick, so that the scallops can sit flat.
3) Spray a frying pan with the low fat cooking spray/oil and heat to a medium/hot temperature.
Put the wrapped scallops into the hot pan on one of their flat sides fry for 4 minutes.
Turn them over and continue to fry for another 2 minutes, and then gently pull the cocktail stick out.
The bacon will have now set onto the scallops, and will stay.
Add the remaining whole corals to the pan, turning occasionally, and continue to cook everything for another minute and a half.
By now the bacon should be completely cooked through.
4) Remove the scallops and corals and place onto the prepared salad.
Add the fish stock, balsamic vinegar and chopped corals to the pan, stir to pick up the flavours from the pan and allow to simmer for a minute or two.
Taste the sauce and if you feel it needs any, add some salt & pepper to taste.
Strain the sauce through a small sieve over the scallop salad and serve.
