The Impatient Chef Recipe: Scallop and Bacon Alfredo

Recipe:  Scallop and Bacon Alfredo.

With the abundance of bacon-wrapped figs, dates, hot dogs, steaks, so forth and so on, filling up recipe sites, I thought I'd try my hand at it a few months ago.  I pre-fried the bacon in the oven until about half done, let it cool, and then wrapped it around some monster scallops, sprinkled them with Buck's Zestier BBQ seasoning (Tony Chatcher's Creole Seasoning will work if you don't live in New York, or want to purchase 5 pounds of Buck's.  We go through 5 pounds in just over a year, so it's OK for us. [It's even good on ice cream]), and popped them in the oven for about 10 minutes.  After defending them from the cat, we sat down and enjoyed a proper artery-clogging treat.  I thought about making them again while perusing the fish counter at the local supermarket, when I decided that it was too late in the paycheck to buy the $20.00 per pound sea scallops, but the bay scallops were $8.99 per pound.  A concept was born of necessity.

At first, I was going to fry the bacon as I usually do on a tray in the oven (it just works better that way), remove the bacon, and throw the scallops onto the pan, sprinkle them with some Old Bay Seasoning (for variety's sake),  and bake them for a few minutes.  After that, it was drain the bacon fat, crumble the bacon over them, drizzle some pre-heated heavy cream over them, and serve.  Simple enough for the Impatient Chef.  Then my wife said, "Over pasta, right?"

Full stop.  Tire tracks.

She's had pasta front and center of her menu lately.  Everything from pesto to marinara to gravies to alfredo gets onto the pasta bandwagon, and takes a spin.  I was trying my hardest to resist, but we already had most of the ingredients.  Why not.

The rest, shall we say, is supper.

Let us begin.

Ingredients:

4-5 slices bacon (uncured is best)
3/4 lb bay scallops
1 pint heavy cream
8 oz fettuccini noodles (homemade is preferable)
3 tbsp flour (for roux)
4 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp ground dried mustard
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt (plus 1 tbsp for pasta water)
Old Bay Seasoning
2 scallions

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Lay bacon out on a rimmed baking tray (this method works better for bacon in all circumstances), and put it onto the oven's middle rack.  Start pasta water heating, and stir in 1 tbsp kosher salt.

Pour the heavy cream into a small (but not too small) sauce pan.  Slowly heat it on low.  Stir in the dried mustard, remaining salt, and white pepper.  Stir often to keep it from crusting on the bottom of the pan.

Use this lull in the action to grate the parmesan cheese.  (Note:  If you use the grated parmesan cheese in the green can, The Impatient Chef will be very disappointed in you, however, this will still be delicious, so no worries).  Also chop the scallions.

When the bacon is done, remove it from the oven.  Baking times depend on thickness.  If you buy good bacon, it will likely take longer than the national brands.  Place it on a plate with a paper towel underneath.  The bacon must be crispy, but not burned.  Reserve 2 tbsp of the bacon grease in a small sauté pan (I use an old crepe pan for roux.  It works really well, but will no longer be suitable for crepes without re-seasoning), and leave the rest on the tray.  You will use this to bake the scallops.  When the bacon is cool enough, crumble it into small pieces.

Drain the scallops in a sieve.  I have found that the water that comes from thawing scallops doesn't help cream sauces.  Put the scallops onto the tray with the remaining bacon grease.  Toss them in it, and then arrange them in a single layer.  Dust them with the Old Bay Seasoning.  Bake for 5 minutes.

By this time the pasta water should be boiling.  Add the fettuccini, and stir to keep it from sticking together.

Heat the roux pan on medium low, and stir in flour.  Cook, stirring often, for at least 5 minutes, 10 if you can bear it.  Keep stirring, though.  This is a white roux for a white sauce.

When the scallops are done, remove them from the oven.  Drain the excess bacon grease off of them.

When the roux is done, stir in 1/4 cup of the heated heavy cream, and then add the mixture to the sauce pan with the rest of the heavy cream.   Use a wire whisk to smooth the sauce.  When the sauce is hot and thickened, but not boiling, add the parmesan cheese 4 batches, stirring until smooth after each batch.

When the noodles are about a minute away from being done, add the scallops to the sauce, and the bacon.  Stir.

When the noodles are done, drain them.  Add sauce.  Sprinkle scallions over top.

Serves 4.