Waiter, You Accidentally Put Caramel On My Scallops.

I spent some alone time at Barnes & Noble on Sunday, and found myself thumbing through cookbooks (though I placed myself under the strictest orders not to buy one). Once I clear out some of my disposable cookbooks, I need to pick up Dorie's behemoth-sized Baking: From My Home to Yours. Every page I turned to seemed like a different take on a familiar bread/cake/cookie. I don't know what it is about her books that make me want to run back to my kitchen and start cooking. I love it, though. Oh snap, Baking is selling for $16 on Amazon (as opposed to $40 at B&N). I literally do not have room on my shelf for it. Then again, there are some South Beach Diet cookbooks (GROSS recipes--they will not be part of this project) that I can get rid of right now. Must...not...buy. Yet. Very tempting, though. Not like I need another baking book.

What did not sound very tempting was the dinner I selected for tonight: Scallops with Caramel-Orange Sauce (pg 317). Ordinarily, I'd completely bypass this recipe without a second glance, unless to mock it. Seafood and caramel don't belong on the same plate or within the same course. I was so horrified by the thought of this meal that I had to try it. Pray for me...

You call that caramel sauce?

This dinner didn't come out looking or tasting at all like I expected. Dorie says that the dish's "drama" comes from the sauce. I thought the sauce was actually quite subtle, and the scallops themselves were the stronger flavor. That's not a complaint. I'm glad this wasn't a thick overwhelmingly sweet caramel sauce. I may have messed something up, because in the book's photo, the sauce looks thicker. As you can see, mine in no way resembles caramel. Woops. This turned out to be much less terrifying of a dish than I expected, and I'm glad I tried it.

Conclusion: Liked it. I'd make it again. I can't believe how small and pathetic the scallops at my supermarket are, though. I would have needed 42 more of them to fill up.