Fifteen years after creating this recipe, I rediscovered an unforgettable combination of tender bay scallops, bubbling butter, Parmesan and crisp country-bread croutons.
After nearly fifteen years and hundreds of recipes on Chewing the Fat, you would think I might remember all the particularly good ones. I don’t. Back from Europe, Andrew and I stopped at our Bridgehampton King Kullen and found beautiful tiny scallops at the seafood counter for $16.99 a pound. They were identified as Gulf Bay Scallops, although neither the weekly circular nor the store’s online listing offered any more precise information about their origin.
They could not be local Peconic Bay scallops. Those prized Long Island morsels cannot be harvested until the season begins in November. But they were small, fresh-looking and irresistible—and they suddenly reminded me of a recipe I had created and published in January 2012. Candidly, I had forgotten all about it.
Rediscovering One of My Own Best Recipes
Finding a recipe you wrote nearly fifteen years ago is a little like running into someone whose name you cannot quite place—until you suddenly remember that you once adored them.
The original dish began with a disappointment. I had tried a recipe intended to showcase the tiny, beautifully sweet scallops native to the bays around Long Island and made famous on Nantucket. Unfortunately, the scallops arrived at the table buried beneath a heavy blanket of ordinary breadcrumbs. They were bland, smothered and nothing like the exquisitely tender Peconic Bay scallops I had eaten at The American Hotel in Sag Harbor.
I became determined to do better.
One of the recipe’s real inspirations was replacing the usual breadcrumbs with croutons. I cut slightly stale ciabatta into pieces about the same size as the scallops and tossed them with melted butter and Tabasco. They emerged crisp, buttery and magnificent against the sweetness and softness of the scallops.
The Tabasco adds warmth rather than heat. And those scallop-sized croutons? I’m claiming them as my own.
MARCELLA HAZAN SETTLES THE GREAT CHEESE DEBATE.
Then there was the Parmesan. Anyone who has spent time in Italy knows the traditional prohibition against combining seafood and cheese. I once stated that rule rather dogmatically on Chewing the Fat, prompting a Canadian cousin—who was working on a cookbook about Adriatic cooking—to inform me that many of his seafood recipes contained cheese.
Fortunately, I had someone rather authoritative to ask. The late, great Marcella Hazan was extraordinarily open and generous with me. When I sent her a message asking about the supposed rule, she personally replied:
“Monte, I used to be very dogmatic about that, but living in Venice for 20 years, I found that it was possible and even desirable to use both butter and cheese, as in baked scallops, for example, or in risotto with scampi. There are limits, however. Sprinkling cheese on pasta with clams is and always will be a crime against nature.”
That was all the permission I needed. The Parmesan melts around the croutons, browns at their edges and brings a savory richness to the sweet scallops. Marcella was right, of course. She usually was.
Fifteen Years Later, Does the Recipe Still Work?
Spectacularly.
I made it almost exactly as written, substituting truffle hot sauce because, astonishingly, we were out of Tabasco. Use whichever hot sauce you love; its purpose is not to make the dish punishingly hot but to sharpen all that melted butter.
Twenty minutes at 400°F produced tender, opaque scallops and deeply browned croutons with a fabulous crispness. Because scallops and ovens vary, begin checking after 15 minutes. The finished scallops should be firm, pearly and opaque—but the top should also have time to become properly golden and crunchy.
It is rich enough to serve two as an entrée, accompanied by a sharp green salad, or four as a luxurious first course.
After fifteen years, hundreds of published recipes and countless dinners, it is rather wonderful to discover that one of the unforgettable dishes was my own—even if I had forgotten it.
Baked Bay Scallops With Hot-Sauce Butter, Parmesan and Croutons
Baked bay scallops meet hot-sauce butter, Parmesan and crisp croutons in this easy, elegant recipe. Serve as a main course or a first course.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces bay scallops
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- About 6 dashes Tabasco, a truffle hot sauce, or your favorite hot sauce, to taste
- 2 cups small croutons, made from good country bread or ciabatta cut into roughly ½-inch cubes and briefly toasted
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, divided
Directions
- Step 1 1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Pat the scallops thoroughly dry with paper towels.
- Step 2 2. Divide the melted butter between two individual gratin dishes or pour it into one small baking dish. Stir the hot sauce into the butter. Start with about six dashes
- Step 3 you want a gentle kick, not a dare.
- Step 4 3. In a bowl, toss the croutons with the onion powder, garlic powder, parsley and half the Parmesan.
- Step 5 4. Arrange the scallops in the butter in a single layer. Tuck the croutons among them, then scatter the remaining Parmesan over everything.
- Step 6 5. Bake until the top is golden, the croutons are crisp and the scallops are cooked through. Begin checking at 15 minutes
- Step 7 my recent batch took 20 minutes at 400°F. Timing will vary with the size of the scallops and the depth of your dish.
- Step 8 Serve immediately, while the croutons still crunch. A green salad alongside is all you need.
