Peter Nowakoski, Executive Chef
Rat’s Restaurant at Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton
I love this recipe because it invokes summer. It’s light and fresh, and perfect for a warm evening. All of the herbs come out of our own garden— it doesn’t get much more local than that!

Large dry scallops from a local fishmonger (4–5 per person)
1 pound Yukon Gold (or similar variety) potatoes,
cut to an even 1/2" dice
4 cobs New Jersey corn, stripped from the cob
1/2 pound chanterelles or other mushroom
Canola oil
Butter
Salt and pepper, to taste

A salad mix of picked soft herbs, from your garden or locally grown—especially parsley, chervil, tarragon and a small globe basil like fino verde. Mix in baby greens or arugula as you like.

Vinaigrette:
1/2 pound thick-cut bacon
Diced tomatoes—choose San Marzano, a nice meaty tomato, or a variety from your garden or farm stand for color. A mix of cherry, Sungold and Yellow Pear tomatoes is attractive and delicious.
White wine
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped herbs (same kinds as listed above for the salad mix)
Clean and store scallops in the usual manner.
Prep the hash by dicing the potatoes the same size as the kernels of corn and hold them in water until ready to use. Clean the chanterelles by wiping them with a damp cloth. Pick the herbs and any other greens you like for the salad and make the vinaigrette. For the vinaigrette: Dice or halve the tomatoes depending on the variety and size you are using. Render the fat from the bacon by dicing it into a pan, just covering with cold water and bringing to a boil. Turn the heat down and let the water simmer off. If you want the
bacon more cooked, add water incrementally until it is as well done as you like. Drain off the excess oil and reserve it. Return the bacon to the pan and deglaze with white wine and sherry vinegar, scraping up all the bacon bits. Add the tomatoes and return the bacon fat to the pan, whisking gently to arrive at a chunky, broken warm vinaigrette.

You can either reserve warm until ready to use or store for a day or two at this point.

Sear the scallops in a hot pan. Once seared, reduce the heat to medium and baste scallops with butter. Hold them warm.

Meanwhile, shallow-fry the potatoes in a little canola oil and add the corn when the potatoes begin to take on color (about 6–8 minutes). Let cook until the potatoes are cooked through and the corn smells sweet and roasted. Drain off any excess oil and toss in the chanterelles. Add some butter, let it foam over a medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes and finish with salt and pepper.

Heat the vinaigrette and finish it with some minced shallot and herbs. For presentation, we place a ring mold of hash at the center of each plate with the scallops arranged around, but a careful spoonful of hash looks just as nice. Dress the herb salad and, dividing it equally among plates, put it over the hash and spoon the vinaigrette around.

(Serves 4-6.)

16 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton
609.584.7800 groundsforsculpture.org