After hosting a successful 40+ co-ed baby bash Sunday (the 23rd) and 20 people for Thanksgiving (the 27th), I was ready for some R&R on my own.  I love entertaining, but, when the music stops, I don’t mind curling up and reading a book or just putting my feet once the dishes are put away.

After doing not much of anything Friday and Saturday, I awoke to a glorious Sunday morning complete with gorgeous, open-all-of-your-doors-and-windows weather and rang the in-laws to confirm our regular Sunday suppa.  Of course, they didn’t turn down dinner so I had to figure out what to serve.

I decided that I wanted to get as far away from turkey as possible and noticed some gorgeous U10/12 Sea Scallops in the freezer along with a pound and a half or so of thickly cut Wright’s bacon in the fridge.  The day before (Saturday), I watched “The Kitchen” and Geoffrey Zakarian suggested that an ingredient should tie your main course and garnish together.  At that point, I decided that bacon would be my bonding agent. I had some mashed potatoes leftover but didn’t want to make those any heavier so I settled on making a southern succotash served with bacon crumble.

My first attempt at making bacon wrapped scallops did not end well; although, I didn’t follow a recipe that time.  I didn’t want to fail again.  So, I went to Food Network which I’ve found to have tried and true recipes that are easy to follow (or at least warn you when they are an advanced or intermediate recipe).  I used Emeril’s scallop recipe and this succatash recipe.  I revived my mashed potatoes by adding more half-and-half and butter and used it as my glue to hold the scallops in place when I served them.

My only modification to Emeril’s recipe was that I didn’t grill my scallops.  I baked them at 375 degrees for 15 minutes which was perfect.  For next time, I may add a broil for one minute at the end to crisp the bacon, but, again, the dinner was great.  The scallops were tender and not rubbery or undercooked at all.  My mother-in-law went for seconds which doesn’t happen often so I know tonight was a success.