The DC Rising Stars Honorees Dinner

Yield: 8 Servings

Ingredients:

Bacon Powder:
• ¼ cup N-Zorbit M (tapioca maltodextrin)
• ½ cup rendered bacon fat
  
  Bacon Crumbles:
• 1 cup bacon, chopped
• 3 cups bread crumbs
  
  Melon Seed Milk:
• Olive oil
• 2 cups melon seeds
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 cups clam juice
• 3 Tablespoons peanut butter
• 12 ounces butter
• 3 cups heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
  
  Scallops:
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 diver scallops
• 2 Tablespoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Salt and pepper

Method:
For the Bacon Powder:
Add most of the Zorbit powder to a bowl and drizzle in the bacon fat, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula and mixing well. Add more Zorbit until desired texture is achieved.

For the Bacon Crumbles:
Put bacon and bread crumbs into Robot Coupe and pulse to a paste. Remove paste from Robot Coupe and spread on a sheet tray. Bake the mixture in 325°F oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown on top. Remove from oven and let sit out to dry. When dry, crumble into small pieces.

For the Melon Seed Milk:
In a pot heat oil and toast melon seeds. Remove and reserve seeds. In same pot sweat onions and garlic. Add tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes. Add melon seeds back into pot, then add clam juice and peanut butter and simmer for 30 minutes.

Skim oil from top and puree mixture in a blender with butter. While blending, add heavy cream but only until consistency has been achieved. The mixture should not be too loose. Season with salt and pepper.

For the Scallops:
Preheat oven to 385ºF. Combine the paprika and cumin and season the scallops with salt, pepper and paprika mixture. Heat the vegetable oil on medium heat in a sauce pan, and sear the scallops on one side for one minute. Transfer the sauté pan to oven and cook for an additional 3 minutes, then remove from oven and serve on top of Melon Seed Milk with Bacon Crumbles on top and Bacon Powder on the side.

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