summertime...and the livin' is easy

Okay, so it's not quite summer. In fact, it's only April and this morning weather.com told me that the temp was 42 degrees. However, there have been a few days of late that felt like a hint of summer come early. And so what better way to celebrate the occurrence than with a meal fit for balmy nights and al fresco dining?

I find that some of my favorite meals are meals that are associated with summer. I think this is because, growing up in Florida, summer meant long, lazy nights of eating dinners outside with my parents by the pool, drinking wine, and talking for hours. Everything I loved about living on the Gulf Coast can be summed up in those nights: warm weather, soft breezes, fresh seafood, and a life that was just more relaxed and uncomplicated. Or at least it seemed uncomplicated while sitting outside with great food and wine. So needless to say, anytime the thermostat creeps above 70 degrees, I get to missing life on the coast and feel a need to recreate it. Sadly, I can't bring the soft gulf breezes, white sand, and emerald water up to DC. But I can do my best to recreate the flavors of the cuisine.

To create a meal that would remind me of summer on the Emerald Coast, I wanted, naturally, to use seafood as the centerpiece and compliment it with some intense flavor. I chose sea scallops because their light, sweet flavor would be the perfect base for some of the bolder tastes I planned on using. I started by mincing two serrano chiles and tossing them with some salt, paprika, black pepper and olive oil. I let the scallops "marinate" in this mixture while I worked on prepping the rest of the meal. I knew I wanted to wrap the scallops in bacon so I decided to cook the bacon until it had rendered some fat but was still pliable enough to be wrapped around the scallops. Once the bacon was halfway-cooked, I removed it to some paper towels to absorb the excess grease.

At the store I had picked up an orange bell pepper, a yellow heirloom tomato, some baby arugula, an avocado, and some watercress. I tossed the bell pepper over the open flame of one of the stove burners until the skin was charred. Once the skin was completely blackened, I placed the bell pepper in a bowl and covered it with some plastic wrap to let it steam and loosen the skin. Meanwhile, I tossed the arugula and watercress with some vinaigrette and plated it. After the pepper was done steaming, I rinsed it under cold water to remove the skin, took out the seeds and ribs, and then chopped the roasted flesh and placed it on top of the greens. To that I added some sliced avocado.

But I wasn't entirely sure what to do with the tomato. I have a good number of food quirks (I hate celery) and one of them is that I hate raw tomato in green salads. I don't mind it in Insalata Caprese or tossed with some red onion, feta, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. However, nothing bothers me more than chunks of raw tomato on a green salad. So I knew that I wanted to cook the tomato. I sliced it and set it aside, figuring I'd know what to do with it when the time came.

Once the salad was ready, I went to finish the scallops. I drained all but a tablespoon or two of the bacon fat from the frying pan and set it over medium heat. I removed the scallops from the olive oil and chile marinade (reserving the oil and chile mixture) and wrapped them with the bacon and then slid them onto skewers. I laid the skewers in the pan and cooked them until the scallops had browned nicely on each side and were just cooked through (about 4 minutes on the first side and about 3 minutes on the second side). I removed the scallops from the pan and plated them alongside the salad.

With the scallops done, I deglazed the pan with a little bit of beer and then tossed in the tomatoes and the reserved olive oil and minced chiles. I sauteed this mixture until the tomatoes were tender but still retained their shape and the beer had reduced into a spicy chili glaze. I plated the tomatoes and spooned the sauce over the scallops. The final accompaniment to the meal was some sliced baguette toasted with raclette cheese melted on top.

Despite the fact that it was created on the fly and without a real recipe for guidance, this meal is one of my new favorites. The sweet scallops work perfectly with the salty, crisp bacon and the spicy sauce. And the light salad, sauteed tomatoes, and cheese bread were the perfect additions. I will definitely be recreating this meal again.

So even though the mercury has returned to late winter-ish temperatures, this meal was a great way to take advantage of the small summer preview we got. And more than that it was a fantastic way to be transported back home to the Emerald Coast.