Buckwheat honey? Who knew it would be such a good pairing for scallops? It’s fun to mix a lot of flavors that play well together! So, to start out this experiment, we tested the aroma of 4 different sweets to determine which one to drizzle over the scallops – clover honey, brown sugar, maple syrup, and buckwheat honey. We knew we wanted to use thyme with our scallops, so we tried each of the sweet scents along with the scent of that herb, to see which combination would be best. Any would have worked, but the buckwheat honey stood out as a great match; it was dark and rich, and had a bold, intense, almost spicy flavor.

We pan seared scallops in olive oil with thyme, and seasoned with pepper and a touch of salt. We then served them over mashed sweet potatoes. This by itself is a great pairing, but when you sprinkle a little more thyme over them, and drizzle with the honey, it gets even better!

This paired extremely well with the 2007 Hayman & Hill Russian River Valley chardonnay we picked up.  I say that despite the fact that I was originally looking for a buttery chardonnay. The wine was smooth, light on the oak, and with a bit of citrus. If I may say, it was all fabulous!

Buckwheat honey scallops on mashed sweet potatoes!

2007 Hayman & Hill Russian River Valley chardonnay.

Honey,maple syrup, brown sugar.

Pure buckwheat honey!