Two People. Two Recipes. One Great Meal.

It took us two attempts to make this "Start of Summer" meal. Our first attempt was thwarted when we arrived at the fishmonger only to discover that they were out of scallops! We made a plan to be there when they opened on Saturday so as not to be disappointed a second time. James was in charge of the kabob-less Old Bay Scallops. Pam was the chef for the side dish - a tomato-pasta salad recipe from Mary Kay Andrews The Beach House Cookbook.

Being far from Maryland,
I could not find a real
 container of Old Bay.
 But I did find this juvenile
specimen, which
proved serviceable.

The side dish was simple enough. While the spaghetti was cooking I chopped some tomato and onion. The chopped tomato was placed in our row boat shaped salad and some olive oil. red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper were added. Next the chopped onion some baby arugula, and shaved Parmesan cheese went in. The cooked pasta was mixed in with everything and some additional shaved Parmesan was added to the top. A lovely cool salad for a very hot day.

James adds: Let's not underestimate the significance of Pam's second line above. This was no ordinary fishmonger -- this was Kyler's Catch, located at the head of the most important scallop harbor on planet Earth (or any other planet, as far as we know). When we found the scallop bin empty -- and its void status was confirmed -- we had no Plan B. We simply backed slowly away from the counter. So it was with some trepidation that we returned yesterday morning!

We did find the scallops, and used the Old Bay scallops recipe we had found on the McCormick web site last week. When we returned to Whaling House, I trimmed and rinsed them, while melting about a stick's worth of butter. To this I added a heaping helping of Old Bay -- about half of the miniature found above, far more than called for in the recipe, which trifles in fractional teaspoons. As if.

In place of the dried parsley, I used a generous heap of finely chopped fresh parsley. The most important departure, though, was that I eschewed skewers. Rather, I placed the scallops on a baking sheet and brushed them liberally with the butter mixture. I broiled them (not to close to the top) for 5 minutes. I then removed the tray, turned each scallop with tongs, and returned the tray for 2 more minutes. The key with scallops is not to over cook. These turned out perfectly, and as Pam notes above, they paired beautifully with the cool pasta she had prepared, and the even cooler Chardonnay from our favorite vineyard.

Lagniappe

The day after we enjoyed this meal, Pam found a remarkable article about the origins of Old Bay, the National Spice of Maryland. Among other things, the article is a reminder of the value of being a country that welcomes migrants in general and refugees in particular. Without asylum, Old Bay itself would be impossible!