Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops - Mango Glazed Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops

Remember these little beauties from yesterday???  Mango Glazed Bacon!  Sure, they are great, but they are just a little sweet.  One of these with a stack of silver dollar pancakes, and you are satisfied.  Which leaves plenty of them for leftovers!  In reality, I had this dish planned, so it really wasn't leftovers.  I made a pound of these, ate 1 slice on it's own (well 2, I shared with Jackie (she did bring me to paradise after all).  I made 3 dishes with these gems.  This is the first... And a mighty good dish it was... um is!

The trick when making bacon wrapped items that will go into the oven is to cook the bacon al dente.  Just a bit under cooked, so they finish with the wrappee.  And speaking of the wrappee; scallops are gentle creatures.  When gently cooked properly, they are buttery soft and delicious.  Moist and tender, practically melt in your mouth.

BUT, over cook them, and they turn south real fast.  What was melt in your butter is now chewy shoe leather.  If you were to fry these, you could see the scallops turn from a soft translucent white color to a more solid white.  When you can watch, they are easy to spot that fine line between cooked and overcooked.

BUT, we are going to bake these.  So, time and internal temperature are critical.  

1. Once these were wrapped in the al dente cooked bacon, 
2. pinned closed with a toothpick,
3. brushed with a bit more of the Mango Glaze and then  
4. moved into a preheated 350 degree oven
5. 10 minutes, I checked and the internal temperature had reached 140 degrees... DONE!
6. These were pretty small scallops, larger ones could take a few minutes more.

Do not over cook.  Once you have tasted a properly cooked scallop, you will hover over the stove making sure that line from butter to leather is not crossed.

It really is simple.  Just takes a little awareness, and anyone can cook these up!  Beyond good!

I served these with a Polenta and Taleggio and Basil served on a bed of OHIO PESTO!

The recipe for the polenta is in the back of "the Long Quiche Goodbye".  As I discussed in my post a few days ago, PESTO and an Economical Gourmet Treat from "the Long Quiche Goodbye" for Two for Tuesday; Avery Aames has written a fun read and provided gentle education for me.  The recipe introduced me to a new cheese (Taleggio, not your grandmother's Brie), a new recipe and a new mystery series.

But for that story, you need to head over to OUR KRAZY KITCHEN for my weekly posting.  Today I am bragging on this polenta recipe I made from Avery's suggestions.

And come back tomorrow for another use of the Mango Glazed Bacon!