Scallops and Grilled Zucchini

Here’s something you may or may not know about me.

I am not one of those mother’s that takes some time for herself now and then.   Ever.  I don’t go away,  for anything.  I don’t take a day, for myself.   I don’t even just go shopping, without taking some or all of the kids with me.  I don’t want to do those things. I don’t like, to be away from my kids.   Some mothers do….go away, and/or like a break from their kids. And there is nothing wrong with that, for them. But it’s just not me.

But the other day, I went to visit a good friend.   She is only one of a few real-life friends I have.  I only see her once in a blue moon, and I hadn’t seen her in way too long. She lives very close by, so you would think I’d be able to see at least a little more frequently, than on blue moons, as busy as I am.

But you see, I know something you don’t.  I know, that if I visited her more frequently, I would not really be living at my home, but at her home.  You see, every single time we have ever gotten together for ‘just a cup of tea’, it has pretty much turned into an ‘all day affair’.  She is SO down to earth, so funny, so easy to talk to, and listen to, that the hours always seem to just slip right away. Literally.

So we met the other day at her house, for a cup of tea, or a glass of wine, at 1 p.m. in the afternoon.

I got home at 9 p.m.

It’s pretty much a pattern now.  Complete with Michael’s phone call somewhere in there, asking, “Is my bride ever coming home again?”.  At the end of our visit, we stood in her front doorway for another hour+.  It’s ridiculous.  I love her to death.

But anyway….that all seems to be way off topic in the Vittles section here. You came to talk about FOOD, right?  Well, how food relates to all of this, is, I of course stayed for dinner.    She said she was having scallops.  I had brought her a summer squash and zucchini from my gardens. ; )   She told me how she calls scallops ‘sea candy’.   I learned all about how she prepared her scallops, and zucchini.  Both, on the grill. I was intrigued.  The dinner, was delicious.

This post, is pretty how she prepared the dinner.  But her reference of the scallops as ‘sea candy’, gave me the idea of adding a little ingredient.

The scallops participating ingredients:   fresh sea scallops (easy to find on this shore), 1/2 stick of butter, and some light brown sugar.

In a foil lined tray on the grill set on about medium heat, we threw in a 1/2 stick of butter, since we had 2.5 pounds of scallops. Actually though, we threw in 3/4′s of a stick (seen above), and then took 1/4 back out. lol.  Then I threw in an unmeasured amount of light brown sugar.  (As it turns out, Michael secretly added more when I was not looking.  He is my ‘Sugar Boy’.  This is different than ‘Sugar Daddy’.)

When the butter is all melted, dump in the fresh raw scallops.

Spread them all out evenish in the pan, and close the cover.

Get in there and stir them up now and then, turning the scallops over as you can. or even spinning the pan around to ensure even heating.  But the goal is to get the butter and sugar caramelizing, and that really takes a little bit of a while.

Then we started preparing a side dish.   Participating ingredients:  a garden-fresh zucchini, virgin olive oil, kosher salt and pepper.

Cut off the ends of the zucchini, and then slice it up the long way, about 1/2 inches or there-abouts.  Then we cut those slices in half too.

Brush them with olive oil, and sprinkle on some kosher salt and ground pepper > both sides.

They are ready to throw on the grill.  But the scallops take much longer, so we waited quite awhile before putting the zucchini on.

When the scallops looked like they would be ready soon, we threw the zucchini on the grill.  The goal for these is to remove them off the grill when they are still dense and soft, but on the firmer side.  We don’t like mushy squash.

The scallops get beautifully brown, as all of the butter and sugar has caramelized.

Look how perfect.

We also made a rice side dish.  But don’t be too impressed with that.  It was literally one of those ‘Side Dish’ packets.  You know….add water and boil.

But how simple and summery is this meal?   It was SO good.  The kids enjoyed it too, as suspicious as they were.

We had scallops left over though, so Michael brought them to his friend.   He was a very grateful man, from what I heard.

This was the first time we have ever prepared scallops in any manner, and the first time we have put zucchini on the grill.  Have you grilled something new this summer?  Please share, or link us to it!