This contest originally appeared on BangorDailyNews.com’s Catching Health Blog 

By Diane Atwood: 

Recipe: Scallops (Spain) Pan-seared with Chilled Corn Cream, Smoked Potatoes, and North Country Bacon

In order to make this dish correctly, you need to make a few things before making the scallops. They will cook in about 2-3 minutes. The rest of the dish will require about 45 minutes of prep and sauce reduction time. The potatoes will need to be steamed first before taking on the smoke of the wood chips. They will take about an hour total between the steam and the smoke. BUT once you have all of that done this dish comes together in a matter of moments.

(These recipes have been scaled down to be “home” sized.)

Bacon Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1/4 lb Bacon
1T Whole grain dijon
1/2 c Maple syrup
1/3 c sherry vinegar
Directions

Sweat* bacon and render until crispy. Add vinegar, maple syrup and mustard. Simmer on low heat for 20 min.

* When you sweat food it generally means you cook it over low heat in a small amount of fat, usually in a covered pan.

Chilled Corn Cream

Ingredients

1 pint half and half
1 1/4 lb corn kernels
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 t salt
1/8 lb butter
Directions

Sweat onions in butter and be careful to not brown or color the onions-use a low flame to achieve. Add corn, mix and saute. Add half and half, boil and then reduce to a simmer. 30 minutes should do it. Puree in blender and strain out the chunks through a chinois or cheesecloth. Chill before serving.

Pickled Corn Relish

Ingredients

3/4 lb corn
1/4 c vinegar
1/4 c sugar
2 T salt
1/4 onion
1/2 red pepper
1/4 c water
Directions

Dice onion and pepper and place in pot with corn and all ingredients. Bring to a boil. Chill.

Potatoes

The potatoes are steamed for about 25-30 minutes and then smoked on wood chips for another 25-30 minutes.

Scallops

Once you have all of that done, it’s time to sear the scallops. (Remember those tips from above!) They will be placed on top of the chilled corn cream and rested on the smoked potatoes that have been dressed in the smoky bacon vinaigrette.