Sea Scallops and Red Potatoes cooked In Bacon over a Bed of Watercress with a Chili Cilantro Lime Sa

This was super duper yummy! Like really, really yummy. I mean, come on... scallops (yum), bacon (yum), potatoes (sometimes yum). The original intention was to grill bacon wrapped scallops. But I couldn't find anything locally that was big enough. (I like to use jumbo sea scallops so the bacon doesn't over power the scallop. But the biggest scallops I could find were an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. So sad.) Anyway, this flavor combination was amazing. The crunch of the crisped potatoes and bacon played perfectly off of the creaminess of the scallops. And the watercress added another dimension of flavor and freshness. And the chili-cilantro-lime sauce had always been one of my favorite dipping sauces for grilled vegetables, steak or seafood. So although this dish was slightly reinvented from its original intentions, I think it came out even better than its traditional concept.

Ingredients:

1 lb scallops

4-6 pieces of bacon

5-6 red/new potatoes

Watercress

2 limes

1 bushel cilantro

3 tbsp chili paste

8 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup mayo

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Peel and dice the potatoes into small pieces. (Quarter your potatoes, or slightly smaller. Mine ended up in 4-7 pieces per potato.)

2. Dice up your bacon into small pieces and put it into the pan.

3. Add your potatoes and 5 minced garlic cloves, and cook for 8-10 minutes until the potatoes begin to crisp on all sides.

4. Add the scallops and 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp of black pepper.

5. Cook for 6-8 minutes or until the scallops are done. (They will begin to brown and just barely begin to look like they're cracking. You don’t want to cook them much beyond that or else they will become quite chewy.)

6. In a food processor juice two limes, and add 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, 2 cups of cilantro (most of one bushel), 3 tbsp chili paste, 3 garlic cloves and 1/2 tsp salt. Puree until smooth.

7. Plate the watercress. Add roughly one sup of the scallop "hash" and then drizzle the sauce.

Get ready to enjoy a super yummy, company worthy dish!