Scallops with crispy sage in an Irish whiskey balsamic reduction

This was a spur of the moment recipe. I was dying for scallops. I had no plans for this so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I think I was subconsciously inspired by my recent trip to Kentucky where everything is infused with whiskey.

I am pleased to say that this experiment passed! It sounds like a very, very odd combination of ingredients but it just works. All measurements are estimates because when I'm making stuff up, I'm not good at paying attention to what I'm doing.

Ingredients & Preparation:
Serves 2 (double the recipe for 4 etc.)

• 8 oz of sea scallops
• approx. 3 tbsps of balsamic
• approx. 4-5 shakes of Frank's hot sauce
• few shakes of sea salt
• approx. 1 oz of The Macallan (Irish Whiskey 12 year old)
• approx, 1/4 to a 1/3 cup of heavy cream
• 10-12 fresh sage leaves
• 3 tbsps olive oil
  

The first thing I did was mix all the ingredients together in a small glass jar (except the sage, olive oil and scallops). Shake to mix (with lid on!). Pour the sauce over the scallops in a small bowl.

Now on the stove, add olive oil to a frying pan and heat. Once heated, add about 3/4 of the whole sage leaves and fry them up about 1 minute per side. Be careful they don't brown or burn. Once they are ready, set aside and let cool.

In the same frying pan, add your scallops and sear on each side until just cooked through (they will be opaque). Set scallops aside. Remember your crispy sage leaves? Smash those up in the bowl they are in until they are in little pieces. Add the remaining sauce from the marinade plus the crispy sage bits and cook it down a little bit. Then add a dash more whiskey from the bottle and reduce further. At this point the sauce should be more of a reduction. Nice and thick.

Place the scallops on the serving plate/bowl and drizzle with the reduction and garnish with some more fresh sage. Serve with whatever side you like - rice, orzo, fettuccine, or a simple salad of greens for an appetizer.

Fantastic!