Anniversary Dinner

For our three-year anniversary I decided to make a nice dinner at home, combining rustic and elegant for the perfect celebratory meal. With fall upon us in New England, I went for fresh and local: seared sea scallops with roasted butternut squash, leeks and crispy pancetta.  Here's how I did it:

First, I picked up some Tuscan bread from our neighborhood Clear Flour Bakery. I served it with a couple of options to dip/top the crusty bread with - white bean spread (I pureed cannelini beans with good olive oil, salt, pepper, and mixed in rosemary and red pepper flakes), and tomato "jam" (I roasted cherry tomatoes in the oven with olive oil and salt until wrinkly sweet, mashing them a bit in a bowl to release their juices and topping with a sprinkle of parmesan), and of course good oil.


Next I made dinner:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice and rinse a leek, spreading about half the pieces on a baking pan. Lay peeled and cubed butternut squash on the pan, tossing with olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper, and drizzling with good maple syrup and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Bake the squash and leeks until caramelized (with golden brown edges.)
2) Crisp minced pancetta in a pan with about 1 tbsp. olive oil until frothy. Remove the pancetta from the pan and lay on a paper towel to drain the fat.
3) Put the remaining leek pieces into the pan - yes, cooking them in pancetta grease, but only on a special occasion would I do this - and sautee until soft and the white parts translucent. (Add a tbsp. of butter if you're feeling really decadent.) Remove the leaks.
4) Increase the heat and saute the sea scallops in the pan, grating a hint of sea salt so that it forms a golden crust. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine (I used the Pinot Grigio we were drinking with dinner) to loosen up those little bits of pancetta flavor, and cook a few minutes on each side so the scallop edges are just about crusty.
5) Lower the heat and add the pieces of squash to the pan, putting the leeks and pancetta back in, so all the flavors come together. Serve and enjoy!