10 Oz. bay scallops.
3 Handsful farfelle or rotini pasta.
3 Slices bacon.
3/4 Cup olive oil.
1/4 Cup lime juice.
1 Tsp Cajun seasoning (e.g. Tony Cachere's).
5 Garlic cloves minced.
3 Tbsp dried basil.
1/2 Cup grated Parmesan cheese.
Directions:
Cook the pasta as usual, drain and set aside. Clean the pot you boiled the pasta in and return to the stove. It will be used again.
Mix 1/4 cup olive oil, the lemon juice, the Cajun seasoning. With the seasoning, no salt is needed. Add the mixture to the scallops and let marinate as you want. Thirty minutes is OK.
Cook the bacon well done and set aside. Leave the drippings in the skillet. Break the bacon into small pieces.
Remove the scallops to a cooking sheet and sprinkle with the dried basil.
Heat the skillet with the bacon drippings, add about half the garlic, and place the scallops in the skillet. Cook until done. Since these are the smaller scallops, it will take perhaps 4 minutes. When done, you can turn off the fire and cover the skillet to keep them warm.
Add 1/2 cup olive oil to the pot the pasta was cooked in. Heat and add the remaining garlic & some additional dried basil if you want.
Return the pasta to the mixture, mix in the bacon, and warm.
Divide the pasta and top with the scallops. Garnish with cilantro if you want. Top with the cheese.
Serving: 2 to 3 with these amounts. Twelve ounces of scallops will do for 3.
Notes:
I bought a bag of frozen scallops in the store and then had to find out what to do with them.
This recipe is based on two recipes I found on the internet, one for pan seared scallops and another for scallops with pasta. I suppose linguine would work here as well.
Scallops seem to be the tofu of the sea world. They absorb the flavor of whatever they are cooked in/with. The bacon was my idea. Almost anything is improved with bacon and garlic.
For this recipe, the smaller bay scallops are probably easier to use than the larger sea scallops.