Scallops with Bacon and Pineapple Beurre Blanc

December 13, 2021
by Cindy Williams
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- Dinner
Cuisine: Comfort Food, French
Difficulty: Medium

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Prep Time

30 minutes
Cook Time

1 hour
Serving

2
View

1,028

PINEAPPLES were brought to the Americas by none other than Christopher Columbus. A symbol of hospitality, they were the rage of 17th and 18th century Europe. If you weren’t rich enough to actually own and eat one, you could rent a pineapple and display it at a fancy dinner party to impress your guests. As decorating motifs, they evoke the kind of friendly colonialism that probably never really existed in the Caribbean. And, you can buy a pineapple headdress on Etsy! I wish I could have worn this while I made this dish. The best I could do was screen Pineapple Express (2008), a movie about a pot-smoking process server who witnesses a murder, inadvertently drops his marijuana cigarette at the crime scene and has to go on the run. It was a silly movie, but fun for a night when you don’t want to think about anything serious.

Directions

I suggest half-cooking the bacon first, and setting it aside. Then make the sauce and hold it in a water bath. Third, pan saute the scallops and bacon. This time table gives you plenty of time to drink some wine and call your mother.

Step 1

Make the Pineapple Beurre Blanc: Put the juices, the vinegar and the wine and the shallots in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer and reduce until you have about 3 or 4 Tablespoons of syrupy liquid.

Step 2

Whisk the butter into the syrupy juices one tablespoon at a time. Don't walk away from this. Adjust the heat to keep the butter melting quickly as you add it, but don't let the sauce get too hot or it will break. You want to see it start getting thick and creamy. Whisk, whisk, whisk! Add the cream toward the end, when you have almost added all the butter. It will help the sauce thicken up a bit and stabilize.

Step 3

To keep the sauce warm while you saute the scallops, pour it in a Pyrex measuring cup. Rinse out your saucepan and run a few inches of tap water in it. Then put the pot over low heat, maybe even with a diffuser under the pot, and put the measuring cup in the water. Watch this carefully as you want the water to stay warm but not hot. Stretch a little Saran wrap over the top of the Pyrex measuring cup. Every once and a while, lift the plastic wrap and stir your sauce to keep it from getting too hot and separating.

Step 4

For the scallops: First of all, you need to cook your bacon a little in a pan because the scallops cook faster than the bacon. You don't want the bacon to get crisp - you want it to be almost cooked through and limp.

Step 5

Lightly dust the scallops with cornstarch.

Step 6

You can wrap the bacon around the scallops and use a toothpick to keep it from coming off. I didn't have any toothpicks so I just cooked the scallops and bacon together. Wipe that bacon grease out of your frying pan, and get ready to saute your scallops in butter.

Step 7

When you're 10 minutes away from wanting to serve dinner, heat the butter over medium high heat in a large teflon pan. When it is hot and sizzling, add the scallops. Brown on one side, turn the scallops with tongs, and brown on the other.

Step 8

Pour a pool of sauce on the plate, then pile or place your scallops and bacon on top. Dot with hot sauce if you feel like it. Dance if you feel like it. Crank up the music really loud and sing if you feel like it. Enjoy yourself and your dinner.