Mom Gone Paleo

If you’ve followed me for any length of time you must know by now I LOVE bacon! Thus, bacon-wrapped anything is pretty much a winner for me! The buttery smoothness of the scallop, dusted in the savory blackening seasoning and enrobed in that salty porky goodness……what can possibly be bad about that? NUTTIN’ HONEY!

Ingredients: This served 2 VERY hungry adults but 4 per person is probably plenty with other sides.

• 10 large sea scallops
• 10 pieces of sliced bacon. (Beware of thick sliced bacon here if you like your bacon crispy like I do.)
• Enough blackening seasoning to dust both sides of all your scallops, (maybe 2 tbs ?)
• Sprinkle of salt
•  Safe cooking fat of your choice. ( I used bacon fat)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. In an oven-proof skillet par-cook your slices of bacon over medium heat until it begins to render some fat and begins to appear pliable and glossy. Remove them from the heat and set aside until cool enough to handle. Retain the rendered bacon fat in the skillet to cook the scallops.
2. Pat  your scallops dry and sprinkle BOTH SIDES with blackening seasoning and set aside. You can use a store-bought brand if you like or you can use the recipe I provide at the bottom.  Just beware of store-bought brands with additives like MSG. A sprinkle of salt might be good depending on how salty your bacon is.
3. Once you can comfortably handle the partially cooked bacon, wrap each scallop with one slice. I have tried this the traditional way, which is to wrap the scallop around the outside edge and secure it with a toothpick. I always have a problem getting the bacon crisp enough doing it that way. So I tried wrapping the bacon around the top and bottom rather than around the sides. This worked beautifully and I didn’t need to use a toothpick. Wrap each scallop then place it in the skillet with the seam-side of the bacon down.
4. Once all your scallops are wrapped and in the skillet, cook over medium heat for 3 minutes or so on each side to begin the “crisping” of the bacon process. This is what mine looked like before I flipped them over.    
5. Once you have cooked the scallops for about 3 minutes on each side. Place the whole skillet in the oven for about 5 more minutes or until you get the desired texture you are looking for on the bacon. This step should also ensure your scallops aren’t raw in the middle and are a nice medium rare.
6. Remove your porky, savory morsels of seafood-love from the oven and skillet and serve with the Paleo side of your choice. I served mine with sautéed green beans.
7. YUM!! Enjoy!

Blackening Seasoning courtesy of Allrecipes.com. This makes about 1/4 cup:  plenty for this recipe and more to use for later.

• 1 1/2 tbs paprika
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 1 tbs onion powder
• 1 tbs dried thyme
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano

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Tags: Bacon, scallops