Macadamia Nut Praline Seared Scallops

Finely chop the macadamia nuts, or pulse in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar and chili flakes to the nuts and mix well. Prepare the pasta or somen noodles as directed on the packages. Set aside. Sauté the bacon until it is crispy, crumble it and set aside.

To make the beurre blanc sauce: Simmer the white wine and shallots in a medium size sauce pan over medium heat. Cook until the wine is reduced by half. Add the heavy cream and again reduce by half. Add the butter one tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly, until it has melted into the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Strain mixture through a fine sieve mesh and set aside.

To brown the pasta or somen: Brown 4 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat until the butter foams and just starts to brown. Add the noodles and toss to heat. Remove the noodles from the heat.

To prepare the scallops: Preheat broiler to medium high. Coat an oven proof sauté pan or skillet with high temperature vegetable spray. Heat the sauté pan over medium high heat. Salt and pepper the scallops, then add them to the sauté pan and sear on one side for 2 minutes. Turn them over and then remove from heat. The residual heat in the pan will cook the other side of the scallops.

Sprinkle the scallops with the macadamia nut mixture. Put the pan full of scallops under the broiler; broil until the sugar in the macadamia nut mixture caramelizes. This should only take some 30 seconds. Watch the scallops carefully so that they do not overcook. If they do, they will be tough.

To assemble: Put a portion of the browned noodles in the center of each plate. Drizzle beurre blanc around the noodles. Place five scallops on the beurre blanc. Garnish with bacon and micro greens.