What's Cooking Wednesday: Scallops Wrapped in Proscuitto with Balsamic Peaches in Mango Sauce

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So, this week we have the lovely M visiting us. M is our Swedish daughter - the fourth of our five, former exchange students.


C and M at Dairy Queen

It's always a delight to see M in so many ways, but one thing she and I definitely share is a love of cooking and a love of using fresh ingredients (um, despite her love of DQ).

M also loves to wander our gourmet markets and get to do some "sampling". She arrived on Saturday, our prime local sample day, and we wandered through Whole Foods. It was a pretty funny wander, because I was telling her that Whole Foods makes awesome guacamole (one of her favorite foods), and voila, there was a sample! Then we rounded the corner to the meat/fish area, and there were scallops on sample (scallops are her absolute favorites). When we went to the baking area, the sample was carrot cake, one of her favorite desserts. Certainly, someone had tipped Whole Foods off that M was coming to town!

We both went ga-ga over the scallops. They were huge sea scallops, wrapped in proscuitto, and served with slices of peaches. We decided we wanted to make these for Monday night's dinner - the night before M would have to return to Sweden.

Monday afternoon we went back to Whole Foods to buy the sea scallops. We asked the fish monger for the recipe of the sample that was showcased the previous Saturday. Well, it turns out there was no recipe - these were special marinated skewers. Since the skewers were an outrageous price per pound, and since we like to cook together anyway, we bought the plain scallops, and the fish monger kindly printed out the ingredients label for the skewers so we could reconstruct the dish.

Except we had a long, busy day, forgot marinades, didn't read the label properly, etc., etc., and the end result turned out to be even better. Love it when that happens.


So here's M and my version of:

Scallops Wrapped in Proscuitto with Balsamic Peaches in Mango Sauce




Ingredients:

12 large dry sea scallops (you have to ask for dry because otherwise the scallops might be brined and won't taste as good)
1 package of proscuitto (we used Citterio)
3 fresh pieces
6 sprigs of rosemary
1 small handful of fresh basil, cut into strips (chiffonade)
2 TBS good balsamic vinegar
1 - 2 TBS olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of mango juice blend (odwalla or equiv - we used Trader Joe's Mango Juice)

Directions:

1. Peel and slice peaches and toss with basil and balsamic vinegar. Let marinate while you do everything else.
2. Rinse, dry and pepper scallops (I didn't use salt due to the proscuitto).
3. Tear each slice of proscuitto into two strips as best you can (this won't be perfect). Wrap each scallop in the proscuitto.
4. Heat 1 - 2 TBS of olive oil over medium high heat (on the lower end of medium high) in a large nonstick pan.
5. When oil is heated, use tongs to place all the scallops in the pan to brown. Spread the sprigs of rosemary on top, like this:



6. Brown for 2 - 3 minutes depending on the thickness of the scallops, then remove the sprigs of rosemary, turn the scallops over with the tongs, and brown the other side. When you've flipped the scallops, add in the peaches and vinegar, like this:



7. After browning for another couple of minutes, remove the scallops to a plate, and continue cooking the peaches, vinegar, basil and rosemary, until the peaches are caramelized.
8. Scrape peaches from the bottom of the pan, add scallops back in, and pour the mango juice over all. Cover and cook for another 2 - 4 minutes, depending on thickness of the scallops.
9. Remove scallops from pan to a serving platter, pour peaches and sauce over all, and remove the rosemary sprigs.

Serves 4.

We served our scallops with Scaletta Green Bean Salad and corn on the cob.

Smaklig Måltid! ("Bon Appetit" in Swedish)