{"id":10671,"date":"2016-11-30T06:11:47","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T06:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=10671"},"modified":"2016-11-30T06:11:47","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T06:11:47","slug":"taconic-bay-scallops-cucumber-and-leeks-tomatoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=10671","title":{"rendered":"Taconic Bay scallops, cucumber and leeks; tomatoes, basil"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sea_scallops\"<\/p>\n

halfway between\u00a0the bay and our table: Taconic Bay scallops in Union Square<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"bay_scallops_leek_cucumber_tomato\"<\/p>\n

this plate looks far more interesting than it should<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everything\u00a0tasted good, but the dish wasn’t as\u00a0worthy as\u00a0the ingredients themselves.<\/p>\n

Whether it was my lack of familiarity with the star, Taconic Bay scallops (their season awaited all year long, and the virtually worshipped by their devotees), or the fact that I was too concerned about including too many of the fresh vegetables I already had on hand, this meal\u00a0didn’t match our expectations. I had also worried at first that there might not be enough on the\u00a0plates, so I expanded on the presence of both the scallops and the tomatoes.<\/p>\n

Still, I think I learned a lot. One lesson would include\u00a0trying, in the future, to keep these beautiful little mollusks as close to their raw unadorned state as possible, either by preparing them for\u00a0ceviche (I didn’t have the time last night) or with virtually no\u00a0processing and using little more than oil or butter, salt and pepper. I had tasted one at the market earlier in the day, raw, and it was extraordinary (the last time I had a raw scallop\u00a0was 30 some years ago, when a friend and I, becalmed while sailing\u00a0off Watch Hill, were offered some by a scallop fisherman raking the bottom of the sound\u00a0near us).<\/p>\n