Bacon Scallops/Water Chestnuts Rolls

Also known as Rumaki, this is a great appetizer recipe that is easy and tasty!  This recipe calls for water chestnuts, but you can also wrap scallops, pineapple, tater tots, chicken livers, and oysters.  The possibilities are as endless as  your imagination! 

Rumaki, an appetizer that dates from the 1940's (served at Tiki Bars such as Trader Vic's) recently made an appearance on the TV series Mad Men, when Betty Draper served it at a cocktail party.  I don’t like chicken livers and would never knowingly eat one; but when rumaki was on the buffet table at a wedding reception a few years ago, I ate several of the bite sized morsels before I was told that I was eating chicken livers!  Yep, it was that good… even with chicken livers! Let the smiles begin!

Since the cooking time is the same, sometimes I do a combination of water chestnuts and scallops.

INGREDIENTS:

·         1 pound scallops or 2 cans water chestnuts, drained

·         1 pound bacon, each slice cut in half*

·         ½  cup light mayonnaise

·         1 cup light brown sugar (or ½ cup Splenda brown sugar)

·         ½ cup chili sauce (I used Heinz)

·         1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
        Wooden toothpicks (soaked in water for 5-10 minutes to prevent scorching)

DIRECTIONS:

·         Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

·         Wrap each scallop or water chestnut with a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. 

·         Place on wire rack on large cookie sheet (the rack drains any bacon grease so that the bacon is crispy). For easier clean-up use a silpat liner or line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

·         Bake for 30 minutes until bacon is crisp. Remove from oven and top with sauce.

·         Sauce: In a small bowl, blend the mayonnaise, brown sugar, chili sauce, and Worcestershire sauce until smooth and well combined.  Spoon this over the scallop or chestnut rolls and return them to the oven to bake for 25 minutes. 

*I used Costco's Hormel pre-cooked bacon to cut down on both grease and baking time; if using pre-cooked bacon, adjust baking time in half.