Now on to seafood. Two of the most delectable sea creatures I can imagine come into season during the fall and winter months: bay scallops and Maine shrimp. In the Northeast, Peconic and Nantucket bay scallop season starts around early November and continues until March. This year’s Peconic haul looks to be the best in years (similar stories are floating south from Mass.) and may even top last year’s haul of 9,942 pounds. If that seems like a small amount to you, it is but consider this: according to Newsday.com the entire statewide haul (which comes exclusively from Long Island waters) was a mere 53 pounds as recently as 1996 while in 1982 it was 500,000 pounds. As a resuly, prices fluxuate greatly. This year the retail price during the first week was about $19/lb where I live in East Hampton and it’s since ballooned to about $25/lb. However, consider that even at 10,000 lbs for the season, that’s only $250,000 retail! The Baymen are getting much less than that.

All things considered, that’s a lot of money to pay and certainly not an every day meal, but they are so sweet and so rich, that a mere 1/4 lb with some veggies and pasta can make a satisfying meal. See?

A quick dinner of Peconic bay scallops, shrimp and caramelized Brussels sprouts over rigatoni

Don’t worry if you don’t like scallops (I used to hate them). Odds are the scallops you’re exposed to are sea scallops (much larger with a less delicate flavor than bays) and treated with something called sodium tripolyphosphate, or STP. If you can find “dry packed,” untreated sea scallops, give them a shot but in the meantime, try the Bays if you have access to them. They’re sweet, delicate and rich, all at once and don’t taste anything like what most people think of as “scallops.”

As for Maine shrimp, these are a variety of deep water shrimp that are only in season for 6 months or less each year (this year’s season started December 1st and runs 180 days). They’re also very small, around 50/pound. If you’ve seen ama ebi or “raw sweet shrimp” on a sushi menu, odds are it’s these babies. While I’ve never had them raw (that’s a goal for this winter) they are easy to cook and extremely cheap. Even at fancy markets like Citarella in New York, they are only about $7/pound. If you’re lucky enough to be in driving distance of the Maine coast, you can find them sold along the road for as little as $2-$3 a pound. Maine shrimp begin life as males and after a year become sexually mature and swim out to deep water where they mate with females who in turn swim back to shore, laden with roe. Most of the shrimp sold in markets are these females and the bright blue roe (which turns red with heat) adds a wonderful color and flavor to dishes.

I’ll post a few of my favorite recipes in following posts, but you can google these wonderful crustaceans and bivalves and find some you can make as well!