Pan-Seared Scallops With a Warm Spinach and Bacon Salad

Dinner tonight was amazing! I have never made scallops before because I am always so worried that I am going to cook them wrong. Ryan's mom loves scallops so I knew that eventually I would have to master cooking them. My fear was that I would steam them rather than pan-sear them. The trick is to cook them on an extremely high heat so they sear before steaming! Well, my first time cooking scallops was a success. And this recipe was so easy! The scallops and spinach cook in the bacon fat so there is no added oil to the recipe and each step cooks in the previous foods drippings and the steps perfectly followed one another. This will definitely have to be made again and now that I have concurred my fear of cooking scallops, I am going to have to make them again, maybe with a lemon pepper sauce!

Pan-Seared Scallops With a Warm Spinach and Bacon Salad
Servings: 4
Weight Watchers Points: 6

12 sea scallops (1 pound)
2 cups spinach
3 slices applewood smoked bacon (or any center-cut thick bacon)
1 cup onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook bacon over medium heat.

2. While bacon is cooking, pat scallops dry and season evenly with salt and pepper.

3. When bacon is cooked, remove from pan (leave bacon fat and drippings in pan) and chop.

4. Increase heat to high and add scallops to pan.

5. Cook for 3 minutes on each side.

6. Remove scallops from pan and cover to keep warm.

7. Reduce heat to medium and add onions and garlic. Cook until softened and browned about 5 minutes.

8. Add 1 cup spinach to pan and cook until barely wilted.

9. Remove spinach and onions/garlic from pan and divide evenly among 4 plates.

10. Add remaining 1 cup spinach to pan and cook until barely wilted.

11. Divide spinach among plates.

12. Add 3 scallops to each plate and sprinkle with chopped bacon.

Serve with a simple potato side and enjoy!

*This recipe is adapted from www.myrecpies.com