Bacon Wrapped Scallops

For our friend Harold's birthday, my friends James and Kelly and I decided to cook him a wonderful dinner. And wonderful it was - we did the scallops as a first course, followed by a mushroom risotto, then a Chilean Sea Bass with a shallot cream sauce. All of it was superb, and the credit should go really to Kelly and James, who have been studying under the tv guidance of Alton Brown and know how to make things both delicious and elegant. The scallops, to my delight, were actually not all that difficult to make, and were fantastically tasty - the bacon is a gorgeous compliment to the delicate scallop flavor.

One needs:

Some large scallops

1 slice bacon per scallop

salt, pepper

lemon juice

Slice each strip of bacon in half lengthwise. Bake (at 350, I think?) for about 10 minutes in the oven, or until the bacon is mostly cooked but still pliable. Meanwhile, using paper towels and some heavy plates, drain as much water off the scallops as you can.

When the bacon is ready, wrap each scallop in the bisected bacon slice, first the meatier one, then the fattier one. Use a toothpick to secure. Salt and pepper the scallops, then put them in a hot frying pan with some oil. Sear them on one side until they're a lovely brown, then carefully turn them over - they stick to the pan a bit, so be sure to protect their structural integrity and delicately pull them up.

Finish cooking them on the other side - I wish I could be more detailed here, but really James was the one doing it, and he cooks by intuition. I'd say it was a couple minutes? But if you do it too long, the scallops will get rubbery. I seem to recall that he spooned some lemon juice over them at the very end.

In any case, they were seriously delicious.