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Scallops' Siren Song Leads To Summertime Feast

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By GREG and MICHELLE BAKER

Tribune correspondents

Published: August 13, 2008

We were having dinner with friends and food aficionados Robert Masson (executive chef of 717 South in Tampa) and Susan Miller (president of JB Hendry Steak Co. and a former classmate of Greg's. She has the yearbooks to prove it).

The couple know good food. Robert has twice won the coveted People's Choice Award for Best Chef in Tampa Bay. Susan worked for Master Purveyors Inc. for more than 15 years before branching off to open a high-end butchery. More about the food from that night later - what we couldn't stop thinking about was Robert and Susan's upcoming scalloping trip.

Many Floridians don't know that Florida's west coast, from Homosassa north to St. Joseph's Bay, is teeming with bay scallops that are ripe for the harvest from July 1 to Sept. 10. For a long time, Florida scalloping was closed to rebuild the population. Now it's overloaded, so scallopers are permitted 10 pounds of these little ivory gems per boat.

No boat? No problem. There are scallop outfitters who will take you to the perfect harvesting spots for $35 to $50 per person and provide you with equipment.

We could do some damage to 10 pounds of scallops. Run little scallops! Run! (Or whatever it is that scallops do when frightened.)

The meat of bay scallops is similar to the very large sea scallops found on most restaurant menus: sweet with a butteriness to the flesh. Often they are seared with little seasoning because the scallops produce natural sugars that afford perfect carmelization. It's like buttah.

So as we sat at our friends' home listening to them brag about how fun it will be to dive 4 to 8 feet, scoop up the little bivalves, gleefully toss them into netted bags and then feast on them with some perfectly aged, perfectly chilled white wine, cuddling next to some disgustingly romantic beachside fire with 10 pounds of scallops sitting next to them like pirate's booty, laughing about the day's adventure as if they are Bogie and Bacall ... OK, OK, they probably said maybe one or two lines about scalloping, but it was the way they said those two lines: "We're going scalloping next weekend. It should be fun." Can you hear the smugness?

We knew a trip to Cox's Seafood, 6821 N. Dale Mabry Highway, was in order.

Owners Richard and Faye Cox have the freshest, most succulent scallops, both bay and sea. The sea scallops are bigger than marshmallows, and the bays aren't much smaller. With 1.25 pounds in hand, we threw together this summertime feast and enjoyed it with a perfectly aged, perfectly chilled white wine.

MISO MAPLE GLAZED SCALLOPS

8 sea scallops

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 tablespoon white miso (available in Asian markets)

1 tablespoon maple syrup (the real stuff, not corn syrup with artificial flavoring)

1/2 cup sherry vinegar (white balsamic vinegar will also work well)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine the miso, maple syrup and sherry vinegar in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.

Reduce the miso mixture in the pan by 3/4 until it has a syrupy consistency, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Heat the canola oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat.

Blot the scallops dry with a paper towel. Drying them will allow them to carmelize, which can't happen if they are wet. (Remember what happened to Spike on "Top Chef" when he couldn't get his scallops dry?)

Season the scallops with salt and pepper.

Sear the scallops in the hot pan, about 2 minutes per side.

Pour the glaze over the scallops and coat well on both sides.

Serves two as an entree or four as an appetizer.

Greg Baker is a classically trained executive chef with more than 20 years of trendsetting restaurant experience. Greg and Michelle are co-owners of Cooks and Company Personal Chef and Catering. Go to www.cooksncompany.com or www.culinarysherpas.com.

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