Practice for ThanksBacon

 Tis the season to give thanks. Thanks for all the good things that make life great. In short, thanks for bacon. My silly friend, who's protected identity I have brought up before, and his lovely but equally silly wife are having an event on the 20th of this month, ThanksBacon Day. A day to celebrate and give thanks for all things bacon. Including and not limited to Kevin Bacon movies. We will be watching Tremors at some point.
Heres what I got for you today. Bacon wrapped scallops with whole garlic cloves skewers. Yep. Dont bother inviting any shimmering vampires for dinner. Ive never cooked scallops before so this was new territory for me. Wash your scallops in cold water and place them in a bowl. Take 6 large cloves of garlic and peel them. Wrap bacon around the scallop and skewer then follow the wrap with one of the cloves of garlic. Be careful not to stab yourself in the palm of the hand. The clove will probably split in half but dont worry, when you place the next wrapped scallop, make sure to squeeze it together to keep the garlic clove in place. Repeat this process 3 more times.

The meat counter had some Kansas City fillets on sale so i picked up a couple of them. I had 2 extra cloves of garlic peeled and since I did no want them to go to waste, I placed them in the middle of the fillets. Once you place them on the grill, you have to watch them carefully. The fillets are pretty thick, so they will take a little bit longer to cook, depending on how you like your meat cooked. The skewers can cook REAL fast of you dont watch them. Once that bacon grease starts to drip, flares will lash out at your skewers and are likely to ruin your meal.

Heres a special treat! While walking around the produce isle at hyvee i noticed that plantains were 99 cents a lb. Feeling a bit homesick, I picked up a pair and fried them up as Tostones! Heres what you do, heat up a fry daddy or just a pan of oil in your stove to about 350 degrees. Dont try to use ripe plantains for this, too much moisture and they wont hold together well. Anyways, peel your plantains, and cut in 1 inch diagonal segments, soak them for 15 minutes in 4 cups of water with 2 crushed and minced cloves of garlic and 2 teaspoons of salt. After the 15 minutes are up, remove them from their bath and drain them well. Fry for 7 minutes in the hot out and remove. Drain them on a paper towel and when they have cooled off enough, take them one by one, place them between 2 paper towels and gently push down on them with the palm of your hand until they take a flatter shape. Repeat this with the rest of them, dip them again in the water and garlic bath, let them drain quickly and carefully place them in the fryer for another 2 to 3 minutes or until golden. Season with garlic salt and dip them in a Fancy Sauce.

Enjoy and as always,
Mahalo.