Scintillating Plantain-Wrapped Sea Scallops in a Thai Bath

When the cat’s away the mouse will play. In this case I’m the mouse, playing up a seafood storm while my non-fish-friendly husband’s away on business in Japan.  Salmon and scallops and sea bass, oh my!  The sea scallops trembled from behind the protective glass at the Uwajimaya fish counter as I set my sights on their plump firmness.  I got them in my mangy clutches and licked the edge of the butcher paper in anticipation. Sounds crazy, but I haven’t eaten hide nor hair of a scallop in years because Jonas trembles at their sight, therefore I feel I deserved my moment of insanity. 

The plantains were looking spectacular from their perch in the produce section, so I picked up a few wondering what I would do to incorporate scallops and plantains.  It occurred to me that plantains can be shaved into bacon-like pieces, and people often wrap scallops in bacon, so why not plantains?  A quick google search revealed that I’m not the only one to come up with this (damn!) so I set out to make a memorable meal for Bentley Danger, myself, and B’s two gay uncles Robert and Patrick (hereto forth shortened to guncles).

I shaved the plantains on my crap mandolin (I’m angling for a replacement but may have to shave off a knuckle to get it) and they came out in nice bacon-like strips.  I rinsed and dried the scallops and wrapped each one in a plantain. At this point I made the mistake of thinking that because the plantains stuck fine to the side of the scallop I did not need to affix them with toothpicks.  Next time I will pin them, since when cooking the plantains tend to unfurl from the scallop.  The frying is fairly straightforward, instead of just doing top and bottom I fried for 45 seconds a side on four sides. It worked great and the plantains were nicely caramelized just like the scallops. 

I served the scallops on a bed of pea sprouts tossed in tangelo juice.  I also made a little Thai coconut broth to drizzle over, in which I used ramps. If you live somewhere where ramps are in season right now go out and buy some, they really add a subtle yet superb flavor punch to just about everything. I’ve been subbing them in place of onions and/or garlic lately to excellent effect.  In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I made this dish two nights in a row, I enjoyed it so much.  The second night I picked up the scallops from Mutual Fish which is very near my house. I normally love Mutual Fish for their freshness and vast selection, but this time I have to admit that Uwajimaya’s scallops clearly beat those of Mutual Fish for freshness. Shocking!