[jyl]

Okay, here is an appetizer for the next dinner party. Also on the scallops theme.

Make aioli. 7 cloves garlic, 2 egg yolks, a bit of olive oil, puree in food processor, adding more olive oil until has sauce-like consistency. Add pinch of salt, maybe some white pepper, to taste. Should make 2-3 ounces. Set aside.

Cut three sweet ripe peaches into slices. If none available, then sweet ripe plums or nectarines or even canned peaches.

Open a large bag of salad greens. The kind with lots of interesting leaves, not a hunk of iceberg lettuce.

Chop 1 cup of walnuts, pine nuts, or almonds.

Unwrap and rinse 1 to 2 lbs of scallops. Either sea or bay scallops, bay scallops work fine and are cheaper.

Heat olive oil in saute pan to medium heat.

Stir in nuts, cooks until just browning, then remove nuts and pat off excess oil w/ paper towel.

Reheat oil in pan, medium heat. Stir in salad greens. Cook until just wilted, maybe 30-60 seconds. Take greens out of pan and lay on paper towel to drain oil.

Reheat oil in saute pan to high seat. Sear outside until just starting to brown, then turn heat to low and finish cooking. Keep poking and cutting sample to check. When still a little undercooked, still a bit translucent inside, remove from pan - residual heat will finish the cooking.

On a small appetizer dish, lay bed of the wilted greens. Arrange peach slices around edge of plate. Then mound scallops in center. Sprinkle liberally with nuts. Lightly dribble aioli on top, decoratively if you can.

I made this for a cabinfull of people at Lake Tahoe a couple weeks ago and got rave reviews. Of course us all having finished a long hike, then drinking cocktails on the private beach didn't hurt.