I’m back from Oregon! During my short trip to attend my step-fathers graduation, I picked up 6 bottles of Willamette Valley wine (mostly Pinot Noir) and a sunburn (I didn’t get the memo about the 4 hour ceremony being outdoors). I actually got back on Monday, but the past 2 nights have been occupied working out the details of the Tastespotting replacement project I’ve started with a friend. It’s not quite done yet, but if you want to check it out, leave a comment and I’ll invite you as we need beta testers. I honestly haven’t been in the mood to cook but this is a simple classic no-brainer for bay scallops. The tartness of the wine and lemon offset the cream and the caramelized onions and scallops add an enormous amount of umami it’s by no means a light dish, but it’s also not too heavy or cloying. For those of you that know me, you know I’ll eat almost anything, but licorice flavored things are a rare exception. That said, I enjoy challenging myself to take food I don’t like and turn it into something I like so I’ve found uses for anise flavored things. Pernod in particular goes pretty well with seafood and I’ve even found myself craving the combo sometimes. I still won’t touch those black tar sticks though. The basil in this dish goes well with Pernod and if you have a fennel bulb sitting around, add it in with the spring onions. Tarragon would work too. If you want to do something different, try replacing the basil and Pernod with saffron and ginger.

📖 Recipe

Bay scallops in basil cream sauce Recipe - 83Bay scallops in basil cream sauce Recipe - 97