scallops

maritime breaded scallops with tartar sauce & lemon

It's a holiday here today, a statutory holiday which means that shops are closed, no banking and no post-office. Yesterday was my holiday, a total waste of a day in which I accomplished very little, ate potato chips and licorice all-sorts (although I did get a few lovely photographs of the all-sorts before I ate them - still life with licorice to be posted at a later date). The tree guy arrived a day early, banging loudly on my door, disturbing me from my one and only small burst of productivity at my desk and that seemed to be the catalyst to screw the rest of the day up. If you really want to piss me off - tell me that you're coming to do a job in the yard on Monday and that you'll call me first to let me know when you're coming and then arrive a day early, with no phone call, two kids in tow that I end up entertaining (we gathered chestnuts which actually was kind of fun, I taught them how to gently step on the outside spiky green shell so that it cracks and then you can pry it open revealing the perfect polished smooth treasure within and it all brought me almost instantly back to my own childhood on Pleasant St), while you haphazardly flit from tree to tree trimming a few branches. But I need him, he and I will barter for business, I'll design his arborist logo, business cards, signage etc... and he'll help me deal with the jungle. I have many, many big beautiful trees that need his care. So...the day was a bit of a write off, but then Sunday's are allowed to be that way. It was cold & blustery and the perfect kind of day to waste. I had breaded scallops for dinner (instead of turkey), I would have had oven roasted fries with olive oil, garlic and sea salt - a healthier version of fish & chips, but I was too full from the potato chips and all-sorts. Thank goodness today's a new day.


Scallops
flour
salt & pepper
1 egg beaten
fine breadcrumbs
butter

Heat oven at 400 with cooking pan inside. I use my pizza stone but any oven safe glass or metal tray/pan will do. Heating the pan first helps the scallops (which have a very brief cooking time) have a crisp bottom. Season flour with salt & pepper. Toss scallops in flour until lightly coated all over then in egg and then roll in bread crumbs and place on a plate. When all scallops are coated with crumbs put a tiny smidge (smidge = 1/4 –1/8 tsp.) of butter on each scallop. Remove heated pan from oven, gently place scallops on pan and return to oven and cook for 5-8 minutes, turning the scallops once if you like. Crumb coating should be slightly browned and crispy looking.

Tartar Sauce
mix together
2 Tbsps light mayonnaise
1 heaping Tbsp. of favourite relish or pickles chopped fine
squeeze of lemon juice
splash of both Lee & Perrins and Tabasco
1tsp. of Dijon mustard

Serve with a wedge of lemon