Soy Citrus Scallops with Soba Salad (Page 321)

RECIPE #789

• Date: Sunday, July 13, 2008 -- 10pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B+
  

My special gentleman loves scallops, and I have been promising to make some for quite a while. Personally, I have a take-em-or-leave-em attitude about scallops. I'm not going to argue that they are bad, but they also aren't my fave. This scallop preparation was quite good though. The scallops were perfectly cooked, with a nice sear on them. The richness of the scallops was complemented by a strongly acidic citrus sauce and a refreshing soba salad. I had two small issues with the dish. One, as discussed in the post below, the veggies didn't incorporate into the salad too well. And two, the sauce wasn't quite right. I reduced it much longer than indicated in The Book, yet by the time I stopped boiling it still hadn't reached a good viscosity for a sauce. It was too runny to really cling to the scallops. As I was plating, I thought, "I should have reduced this more." As soon as I took a bite though I was thankful I hadn't. It was incredibly intense. In fact, it was a little too intense. The citrus flavor from the lemon and lime juices was very powerful, and the soy sauce gave it a pungent fermented, salty flavor. It didn't taste bad, it just tasted like it needed to be diluted! But diluting it would have even worsened the problem with its thickness (or lack thereof). So the balance of ingredients in the sauce was off a bit, but the dish was still tasty, and my special gentleman was happy, which made me happy!

Here is the recipe.

My special gentleman left this afternoon for a weekend-long bachelor party. His friends are big on the destination bachelor parties, and this is apparently the season for them. He went to one earlier in the summer, and he has two more this weekend and next. Lucky for him both of the destinations are driveable this time -- this weekend is in Providence and then Boston (for his friend Russ), next weekend is in Montreal (for his brother Brad). Because the party this weekend is migrating to Boston on Sunday for the George Michael concert, I offered to host a pre-concert dinner at our place. That's right, I'm hosting my first bachelor party! Well, really it is just a bachelor party component in this case... let's call it a Bachelor Party party. So I flipped through The Book this evening thinking, "What do bachelor's eat?" Er, that's not the right question. Bachelors eat Cheetos and beef jerky. There are no Cheetos in The Book (and, surprisingly, no beef jerky). And actually most of these guys aren't bachelors. The right question is, "What do hungry, drunken guys eat?" Turns out there are lots of things in The Book that seem appropriate. We'll see how it goes over on Sunday! In any event, the day is guaranteed to be good because I am headed to the George Michael myself (not with the bachelor party -- my special gentleman and I already had tickets to the concert when this party got scheduled, so I got ditched in favor of floor seats with the guys. Luckily, my friend Ricky agreed to go with me! It should be a blast!)