Here’s another easy peasy lemon squeezy recipe that makes you look really good.   Inspiration hit one afternoon when I had some Serrano ham out for one recipe and some serrano peppers out for some pico.  The coincidental names struck me and the wheels started turning on how to take advantage.  We had just had bacon wrapped scallops somewhere and it didn’t take long to make the leap.  Serrano ham sliced very thinly is less fat and doesn’t present the problem of overcooking the scallops to get the bacon crisp.  The flavor profile is quite different from the typical bacon wrapped version, especially with a couple of pepper spears added, but in a good way.

Scallops are a tricky beast.  They seem straightforward enough, glistening globs of opalescent white marine molluscan protein but both the bivalve and the humans involved throw variables  into the equation that can really mess up your results.  Scallops are more than what you normally see at the market.  The “scallop” is actually just the adductor muscle that closes the shell.  If you’re lucky and live where scallops are harvested (Erin and Mike) you can sometimes get the whole fresh scallop that will include the roe, AKA coral.  Most of us get to settle for the classic scallop as shown here.  The scallop muscle is really a combination of two muscles, one tasty and the other not so much,  so some minor trimming is needed.  There is usually a more dense whitish muscle on the side of the scallop with fibers that run sideways perpendicular to the rest of the scallop muscle fibers.  That needs to go, it’ll often add a chewy bitterness to your finished product that you really don’t want.  Here’s a couple of shots showing the unwanted attachment on and removed.

Blink wouldn't even eat it

The next bit of trickiness is that quite frequently scallop processors have this scam of adding water to the scallops to make them more plump and shopper friendly but that added moisture can easily turn a saute into a braise and grilling into steaming, neither of which will make you very happy.  So, after trimming wrap the scallops in paper towels and press gently for 5 or 10 minutes to squeeze out the excess moisture.  I usually put a small cutting board over them and a large can or bottle of water on the board and work on something else for a minute, like slicing the Serrano ham strips to scallop widths.  That’s the end of the trickiness, all you need is to wrap the scallops in the ham and anchor with a toothpick.  The peppers are even simpler.  Because you will insert the pepper strips with the grain of the scallop meat they slide right in so when you seed and de-vein the peppers just trim an end to a point.  I frill the other end but, that’s just me, frilly.  Here are the bad boys ready for the grill, or saute pan if you prefer.

Grill them over a hot fire for just a few minutes on each side until the scallop is opaque.  This is one of those rare instances where a grill pan or gas grill will yield very similar results since they’re not on the fire long enough to pick up much smokiness.  Note from the photo that cold cerveza mexicana is a nice accompaniment.