First let me tell you a funny, which has a sad moment to it, but in the end, I think you’ll smile.

My mother passed away October 30, 2019. . My friend, Rhonda called sobbing, as she loved my mom who we call Retro Rose. Every year, Rhonda and Retro Rose would team up at my Galentine’s party, eat fried eggplant and laugh a lot. We had a celebration of life for Retro Rose and Rhonda didn’t show up, something quite surprising. But wait.

She showed up the next day, the wrong day. She wondered why I was in workout clothes; I wondered why she was at the door. Long story short, we showed her the video, she cried again, and then proclaimed, “I’m hungry.” Well just by luck, or Retro Rose magic, I had just completed making this mixed seafood recipe  for the blog and it was only 4:00.

She’s on the keto diet and I said “believe it or not I have food and a keto dessert.”

This mixed seafood recipe is easy for a French dish.

I’ve been to France twice and I absolutely love French food, especially the dishes cooked with wine and butter. I’m about to go to Paris is May and am excited to be taking a bread baking class, which I’ll report on later this summer.

It’s a little fussier than most of my recipes, because it’s adapted from the cookbook, Le Cordon Bleu at Home. When I first started blogging almost eleven years ago, I cooked out of this book for a year with a group of bloggers wanting to take on the French recipes.

I learned a few things about French cooking that year. You use a lot of pots and pans. Often the recipes seem a bit over-complicated. The end result is always delicious, even surprisingly so. I thought this dish was going to be boring, but I was so wrong.

Scallops are delicate, decadent and expensive. The good news here is you only need a half pound, and you can replace with small bay scallops, which are sometimes more affordable.

Best Way to Prep Scallops

• You must clean the sand off the scallops by quickly rinsing in cold water.
• Remove the side muscle. It pulls off easily. Otherwise, you’ll get a bad, fibrous bite you do not want.
• Dry well with a clean towel or paper towel.

Mixed Seafood Recipe with Butter and Wine is Naturally Lower in Carbs

This recipe is naturally lower carbs because it’s protein and fat. If you don’t care about that, serve this with rice, or crusty bread. It’s a great dish to put together for a dinner party or over the holidays when you’re ready to run from turkey and beef. For a very fancy dinner, serve over store bought puff pastry.

Mushrooms and Mixed Seafood

Let’s talk about mushrooms. There was a time I wouldn’t dream about mushrooms and seafood, but this works. If you hate it, skip them and add in more seafood. I’ve been to two fine dining restaurants this year, where mushrooms was paired with seafood and it was brilliant.

Wine Butter Sauce

Classic and delicious, wine butter sauce can turn almost any plain dish into something special.

More Scallops Recipes from Spinach Tiger

• Seared Scallops with Pasta
• Seared Scallops with Fennel
• Anchovy Basil Pesto with Seared Scallops 
• Seared Scallop with Edamame Pasta (low carb)

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Shrimp and Scallops in Cream Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 pound shrimp
• 1/2 pound scallops sliced across
• 1 shallot finely diced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups mushrooms sliced
• 2 tablespoons parsley finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

• Peel and devein shrimp.
• Remove the side muscle of the scallops. Slice across.
• Heat butter in pan. Cook scallops until just done about 2 minute per side. Remove to dish. Set aside.
• Add shallot just until soft, then add wine and parsley and simmer until alcohol is cooked off.
• Slice mushrooms and sautè quickly in large sautè pan in 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add scallops, and uncooked shrimp. Shrimp will only take a few minutes to cook.
• Add in heavy cream and continue to cook. Add parsley.

The post Mixed Seafood in Wine Butter Sauce appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

It was a mix of all the right ingredients and although rustic, far from ordinary. They had a secret ingredient I’ll share below

I posted this recipe eleven years ago am I’m reposting with new pictures. It was a post that expressed how I feel about food, and particularly developing recipes you will actually make and enjoy. I still feel the same way in what I believe this blog is all about. It’s about you and how to make your life more delicious, more enjoyable in an easy, approachable style.

 Some people think that hat good food can only be achieved if you spend hours in the kitchen.

No one, not even a passionate foodie type, food blogger has several free hours to make each and every meal.  I now own a keto bakery and cooking is a lot more challenging for me.

When I boil down the reasons I blog about food, it’s not really for me. I can go in the kitchen and come out happy any time of day. I also know many of you didn’t grow up with my background.

I was exposed to home cooking and fine dining since the day I was born. I was also that girl who lived with one parent, and especially the years I lived with my father, I did all the cooking. The meals became important in rough times. Sometimes sitting to have nice food together was the only normal I felt.

When I write out recipes, I write them for you so you can have some normal in your day, to bring good smells, tastes, and bites of pleasure to your family. If you’re going through something, at least you can sit and eat together and smile through the food.

After all these years of writing this blog, my passion rests in getting my readers to try new foods, new flavors with ease and joy. This means it has be fast, easy, approachable, understandable and yet, still have last meal goodness.

My husband says “if I had a choice between this dish and sex, I would have a hard time choosing. There is no other food on earth I can say that about.” That’s a huge testimony to this dish.

Main Ingredients

• Scallops
• Basil
• Olive Oil
• Anchovies
• Bucatini
• Garlic
• Sliced Almonds
• Breadcrumbs (optional)

Pesto

There are many ways to make pesto. This recipe was made with pestle and mortar, which allowed me to add oil as I wanted. I crushed the basil with garlic confit, toasted almonds first, and gradually added olive oil. Salt before you taste, because salt finishes it. I also added an Italian cracked chili pepper. I also replaced the pine nuts with sliced almonds, as they are more affordable.

TIPS: If you don’t have enough basil (2 cups) do half and half with Italian parsley.

Anchovies, the Secret Ingredient

Do not let the anchovies scare you. When you are at the grocery store just pick up a can and trust me. Melt them into your olive oil. They may gross you out at first, but once the basil pesto sauce is layered over the pasta, you won’t even know the anchovies are there. They are an amazing flavor enhancer, giving any dish that umami oomph.

Actually pick up a few cans. Melt anchovies into olive oil and cook broccoli or cauliflower and taste the flavor boost.

Why Bucatini?

Bucatini is a large hollow spaghetti, which will absorb the flavors, and has a great bite to it.You could use linguini or spaghetti but bucatini is a favorite with this type of sauce.

Seared Scallops

I used smaller scallops that actually work better, because they are bite size and more affordable. You could also do large scallops. See Variations below.

So tell me, are you interested in fast, easy dishes that are amazing? Would you like to see more of these types of recipes?

Variations in this Recipe

• Replace the scallops with shrimp, or combination.
• Replace the scallops with broccoli florets.
• Replace the scallops with chick peas, green peas, or white beans.
• Replace bucatini with spaghetti or linguini, or even gnocchi.

More Recipes with Pesto from Spinach Tiger

• Zucchini Garlic Scape Pesto
• Ricotto Peas Pesto Appetizer
• Caprese Salad with Pesto
• Baked Red Snapper with Pistachio Pesto

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Anchovy Basil Pesto Sauce with Seared Scallops

Anchovy Basil Pesto Sauce with Seared Scallops, Toasted Almonds

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Bucatini, pesto, scallops

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound bucatini pasta
• 2 tablespoons salt for the pasta water
• 1 pound scallops
• 1/3 cup tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small can achovies approximately 6 to 8 packed in olive oil
• salt
• 1/2 cup pesto sauce
• 2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs optional

Pesto Sauce

• 2 cups tightly packed fresh picked basil leaves
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped before processing
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoon sliced almonds toasted, divided

Instructions

• Toast breadcrumbs either in oven until golden or in dry frying pan. Toast pine nuts or sliced almonds. Set both aside. You can skip the breadcrumbs if you want to.

Pesto Sauce

• Make Pesto Sauce, by combining basil, garlic olive oil in food processor or magic bullet, or by hand with mortar and pestle, reserving one tablespoon of toasted pine nuts or sliced almonds for garnish. Set aside.

  TIP: Mortar and pestle is the best way to go. The color will remain brighter green.
  
• Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add ample amount of salt to pasta water.
• Cook bucatini or spaghetti one minute less than directions to al dente. Pasta will finish cooking in sauce. While pasta is cooking, make scallops.
• Cook and drain pasta, reserving a cup of pasta water. You won't use all of that, probably a few tablespoons.

Sear Scallops

• Bring scallops to near room temperature. Ice cold scallops won’t cook inside.
  
• Remove muscle, a little rubbery piece on side of scallop.
• Pat dry. Season with salt and pepper
• Use a pan (not non-stick) that is large enough to give each scallop plenty of room. I use all-clad 12 inch pan.
• When scallops are crowded, they steam, instead of caramelize.
• Add enough butter in pre-heated pan that when melted, pan is covered. Add in a little bit of olive oil.
• Add scallops to hot pan, and do not try to turn until they are brown and no longer stick, 4-6 minutes, less for smaller scallops, which take 2-3 minutes.
• Turn and cook for a few more minutes. Immediately remove from pan.

Assemble dish

• In same frying pan heat 1/3 cup olive oil on medium heat.
• Add anchovies, breaking up with a wooden spoon until they are melted.
• Add cooked pasta.
• Add in pesto sauce. Only use as much as needed. You may have some left over.
• Add in pasta water, as much as you need, so pasta is not dry. Toss.
• Add Scallops.
• Season with salt if needed and some cracked red pepper.
• Cover dish with toasted sliced almonds. Can sprinkle toasted breadcrumbs to finish dish.
  
• Serve immediately.
  

The post Bucatini with Basil Pesto and Seared Scallops appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

How do you sear scallops?

• Remove the side muscle.
• Clean the scallops.
• Dry the scallops.
• Bring the to room temperature.
• Get a HOT pan going with some oil, butter or both.
• Exercise patience.

How to Remove the Muscle of the Scallop

Remove the side muscle, by feeling for the rubbery piece of scallop that you can easily pull off. Sometimes the muscle is missing on a few of the scallops. It will feel differently.

Rinse in cold water, because there’s a lot of sand you have to wash off.

Dry the scallops with paper towels. You don’t want water hitting the pan or a wet scallop interfering with caramelization.

JBring the scallops to room temperature, so they brown quickly and will be cooked on the inside.

Heat up a hot pan, medium high and place scallops with adequate room so they will not steam but will brown.

Be patient. You don’t want to turn the scallops over until they move easily. At this point, the other side of the scallops only take a few seconds, because you don’t need to brown the underneath. That will most likely over-cook the scallop and make it rubbery. Some do brown underneath and if you do, do it quickly.

We recently had this very easy 10 minute dinner with this low carb pasta. The pasta is made with edamame and we were thrilled and thought it was good. I tossed with olive oil, garlic, chopped basil and red chili flakes. It was a great bite with the scallops.

The carbs for two ounces (which is a LOT of this type of pasta) is 7 net carbs. I can only eat one ounce because it appears like more pasta than regular pasta.

As an option, to make this even better, add some toasted panko crumbs. I use the Pork Panko because they are carb free. I like that extra crunch for texture.

I hope you enjoy this seared scallop dish as much as we did. There are so many ways to enjoy seared scallops. I would love to hear what you do.

Please follow me on instagram. If you make this recipe for low carb cream cheese frosting, please tag me #spinachtiger. I love to see you make these delicious recipes.

If you love this recipe, please give it five stars. It means a lot. xoxo

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Seared Scallops, Edamame Pasta

Seared Scallops with pasta, basil, garlic, red chili flakes, olive oil.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound wild scallops
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• big handful basil chopped
• salt
• pepper
• 4 ounces pasta I use this low-carb edamame
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup pork panko optional

Instructions

• Remove the rubbery muscle on the side of the scallops.
• Rinse in cold water.
• Dry with paper towels.
• Bring to room temperature.
• Get pan hot. Add avocado oil. Add Butter.
• Place scallop in frying pan. Do not crowd or they will steam, not caramelize. You may have to cook into two batches.
• Fry for two minutes on one side, one minute on the other. Scallops move easily once caramelized.
• In meantime, boil water for pasta, cook according to directions. Reserve 1/4 cup water before draining.
• Toss pasta with olive oil, a little pasta water, garlic, basil, red chili flakes.
• Serve with Seared Scallops.
• Toast pork panko in frying pan (can use a little butter or oil)
• Toss pork panko over scallops.
• Season with salt and pepper.




The post Seared Scallops, Edamame Pasta (Low Carb) appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Seared scallops with braised fennel is a restaurant inspired meal, but done much more lightly. The original dish had a heavy butter, lemon sauce that I had no time for and you probably don’t always either. This is also one of those in between meals. The kind of meals I eat when I need to go light, because I’m in between food events. But, light doesn’t mean carrot sticks or a protein shake. It can still mean good food..

Seafood pairs fabulously with braised fennel. I discovered that when I made this recipe from Le Cordon Bleu at Home.  Even if you think you’re not a fennel person, you might be a braised fennel person. It cooks in mere minutes aided with a bit of butter, perhaps a splash of wine, and it sweetens up and takes on a completely different character than it’s overpowering raw state.

I love both, but while raw fennel is loud, leaning on obnoxious unless tamed with other ingredients, braised fennel is demure and its sweetness alluring. The sweetness of seared scallops harmonizes with the sweet in the braised fennel. To counter this, I added in a grape tomato, feta cheese salad.

If this is dinner, I suggest at least 3/4 pounds of scallops for two. Scallops are pricey. This is not an inexpensive meal. It’s a splurge, but it will cost a lot more in a restaurant and once you learn to sear them properly yourself, you can enjoy them more often.

I always purchase wild sea scallops, make sure to clean them well and remove that little side muscle.

Dry them with a paper towel and heat the pan to a medium heat. The trick with scallops is patience. Don’t turn them over, until they are ready to move easily. Trust that they will caramelize and brown. This takes about 5 or 6 minutes. Once turned over for another 2 minutes, you have perfectly tender, seared scallops, so good, that they don’t need a sauce.

Seared Scallops with braised fennel, a very simple, clean, delicious dinner made in twenty minutes.

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Braised Fennel with Seared Scallops

Braised Fennel with Seared Scallops

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Braised Fennel

• splash white wine or dry vermouth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 Fennel Bulbs

Seared Scallops

• 3/4 to 1 pound scallops
• olive oil enough to cover pan
• 1 teaspoon of butter
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

Braised Fennel

• Cut stems and trim out the core of fennel bulb. Rinse and drain.
• Cut fennel cross wise into strips. It will reduce down in size once braised.
• Place in sauce pan with enough water to cover bottom.
• Add splash wine, knob butter.
• Braise until tender, about 15 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper.

Sear Scallops

• Clean scallops, by rinsing and removing side muscle.
• Rinse and dry scallops with several paper towels. Any moisture will prevent browning.
• Heat olive oil with butter in frying pan to medium high heat.
• Place scallops in pan and turn to medium heat. Do not crowd pan. Do in batches if necessary.
• Cook for 4-6 minutes until the scallop easily moves and is browned.
• Turn over for approximately one minute.

Two More Fast and East Scallop Recipes:

You can make Greg’s version of this on the grill. (Sippity Sup).

If you want to get really crazy, try this Seared Scallops and Grilled Watermelon Recipe.

The post Seared Scallops with Braised Fennel: Fast, Easy, Tasty appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Notice that word “responsibility.” I intentionally used that word because I know there are folks who dread anything called a resolution because they make them, break them, feel like a failure and forget to pat themselves on the back for all the responsibilities they intentionally met. Through the normal course of a year, people often do heroic, kind, decent things and yet only remember what they didn’t do. Sometimes a person with bad character has enough grit to accomplish all of his or her goals, but doesn’t necessarily act with responsibility. We often witness super star athletes easily win their trophies, put their heart and soul into their goals, get fit, lean, mean, and then fall from grace due to character issues. They know how to achieve “healthy” as far as the eye can see.

But, there is so much more to healthy. What does it mean to you? Does it include a life style approach of uncompromised, beautiful, delicious food that emphasizes whole, fresh and local ingredients, only to light up a cigarette at the end of the meal. Or run to the gym five times a week and smoke on the way home, followed by a frozen diet meal full of aspartame and other questionable ingredients. What ingredients? Uniformly raised chicken that has a life you wouldn’t want your flies in the back yard to live, but your meal is 280 calories and you look great (on the outside).

That was me years ago, a diet possessed, exercise over-achiever who actually smoked on the way TO the gym. Now those days are far in the past. I started running, and I quit smoking cold turkey. I switched my diet to NO DIETS EVER AGAIN, and I lost some weight. It was not a new year’s resolution. My brother died and more than ever, I wanted to respect “life.” Everyone’s life, including the animal I was going to eat. Overnight, my viewpoint changed. And, this new mentality became all about making good choices from the big picture.

Food companies will try to convince you more than ever in January that they are offering you a new and better you. You can eat their version of a gourmet meal, and still lose weight. Other companies will come at you with weight loss pills, which will wreck your nervous system or possibly the nervous system of those around you. Yes, you will “appear” healthier on the outside. That show the Biggest Loser is funded by several such companies and they plug their products throughout the entire show, while teaching America that the only way to tackle morbid obesity is killer exercise, but they never share with us what these people are eating. It’s a bizarre show, but I’m hooked into watching it. Pounds disappear by the hour. People lose 29 pounds in one week, but we get no explanation.

Oh dear, here I go again, opining and not offering you anything good. I hate to hear a lecture, but as you can see Spinach Tiger earned this name. When I feel strongly about something, I tend to roar. But I’m not roaring at you, my friend. I’m roaring at the companies out there who are misleading us with unhealthy choices to get healthy.

So my ten in 10 is going to be all about taking responsibility and changing perspective on healthy living, eating and cooking good food while not compromising with short cuts that lack good character and integrity. When we travelled Italy for 16 days, we both came back at our lowest weight in years. We ate bread and pasta, drank wine and ate gelato every day. Was it something in the food or was it something “not” in the food? We came home afraid to eat because we felt so good. I want that feeling back. Italy is the slow food center of the world. I want to adapt to this lifestyle as much as possible. So here are my 10 in 10 and I promise to keep you posted, while providing you a good meal choice.

Spinach Tiger’s Personal Ten in 10 (for the next ten weeks)

1. Buying local and fresh as much as possible, by shopping the farmer’s market, even in snow.
2. Willingness to spend a little more to buy organic meat from my local farmers.
3. Regular exercise schedule that includes weight training and cardio 4-5 times per week.
4. Using my new super duper food scale to stay real with what I’m eating and write it down.
5. Eating out only once a week in a locally owed restaurant that chooses to cook local and fresh.
6. Eating well balanced meals with limited carbs and including breakfast.
7. Flexitarian Diet – some meat, but many meatless meals, not because I believe meat is bad. I just believe vegetables are awesome.
8. No aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, or other such additives.
9. Cooking more with agave, or using organic sugar in low to moderate quantities.
10. Count calories, lose 10 pounds.

Seared Scallop Salad
And as promised, here a recipe for a healthy dinner or lunch. I only use wild sea scallops and, although pricey, this is in lieu of eating out, which would cost a lot more. I chose apples and pears because our local farmer was selling apples at the farmer’s market which is held outside. It was snowing and we felt good to buy from him. (We also bought an organic chicken, which I will feature later in the week). I’m so proud of the Franklin Farmer’s Market for staying open in the winter and in snow (which we aren’t used to in Nashville).

There is minimal oil used because I use a cast iron pan, which deliver perfectly seared scallops every time.

The combination of apple, pear, edamame and crisp greens with scallops is more than delicious. We liked it so much at lunch, we went and bought more scallops and ate it again at dinner. I received a salad spinner for Christmas. Goodbye pre-packaged greens. Hello fresher, cheaper greens!

Talk back to me. What are you doing to get healthy? If you have any good ideas, please share.

I bought these apples from my local farmer who was selling them outside in the snow, thus, my snow picture.

Recipe for Seared Scallop Salad

• 1 pound, wild sea scallops, rinsed well, muscle removed, patted dry
• blood orange olive oil or regular olive oil
• 1/2 cup edamame
• 1 apple, washed, diced with skin
• 1 pear, washed, diced with skin
• 3 heads or 6-8 cups, Romaine lettuce (or your favorite greens)

For the dressing:

• Blood orange olive oil (or regular with a squeeze of orange
• Rose wine vinegar or wine vinegar

Instructions

1. Wash salad thoroughly, spin dry and tear into bite size pieces. Add in apple, pear and edamame. Feel free to add in anything else you like such as some orange slices, or green peas instead of or in addition to edamame.
2. Toss with olive oil, just enough until greens are wet. Add in vinegar, salt and pepper and taste to make adjustments.
3. Put just enough oil in pan to cover surface. Heat pan very hot. Put in room temperature scallops to close to room temperature. Ice cold scallops will not cook in center. Do not crowd pan or they will steam and not sear.
4.  Season scallops with salt and put in pan. You should hear a sizzle. Turn to medium high heat, and cook for about 3-4 minutes. You’ll know when they are ready to turn, as they slip very easily. Cook on other side 2 minutes approximately. You’ll know they are ready, when they are browned and slide.

The post Ten Ways to Get Healthy with Integrity in 2010 and Seared Scallop Salad appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This dish should be appreciated for a number of reasons, but what I love is that it was included in the back of Marcella Hazan’s book as a pasta course, with main fish course, salad and dessert, as part of a 45 minute menu. To eat this good is such a short time is what being Italian is all about.

The key to making this dish is same key that opens all doors to good Italian food…balance of fresh ingredients and bold flavors, so that no one ingredient takes over. You want to taste the sweetness of the scallops, enjoy the bold flavor of the garlic, as the heat of chili pepper balances it out. The breadcrumbs add texture and just for fun, I increased the texture with some chopped pistachios. The pistachios bring that little bit of extra flavor, crunch and color.

These are bay scallops, the smallest, sweetest I could find. The original recipe is made with scallops that are very tiny, known as canestrelli. The scallops need to be small, sweet and tender. They will be cooked quickly, not pan seared (like sea scallops). I left the scallops in their natural size (bite size), but the recipe recommends cutting much smaller. There is a good reason to cut them smaller. They will carry more of the flavors.

It is important also to use unflavored bread crumbs, not the kind of flavored you can buy in a can. In fact, never buy them again. Always make your own with left over baguettes.

I made this dish twice in the past week and the first time I used thin spaghetti and followed the recipe exactly. The second time, I used an organic fettucini (not real wide) and doubled the parsley. And, yes he ate it all.

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Cooking Italy: Pasta with Scallop Sauce, Olive Oil, Garlic, Hot Pepper

Scallops with pasta adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh bay or deep sea scallops
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley I like a bit more parsley
• Chopped hot red chili pepper to taste
• 1 pound pasta
• 1/2 cup dry unflavored bread crumbs, toasted
• 1/4 cup chopped pistachios my addition
• Sea salt pepper to taste

Instructions

• Clean scallops, rinse in cold water. Pat dry with
• Saute garlic in olive oil until golden. Add parsley, chopped red pepper.
• Add scallops to pan, saute over medium heat, just until cooked through.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Cook pasta in large pot of salted boiled water, al dente. Drain and put into large saute pan with scallops sauce. Mix together, adding a bit of pasta water if needed, or some more olive oil if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Add Bread crumbs. Toss. Put in serving dish and top with chopped parsley and, if desired, chopped pistachios.

The post Pasta with Scallop Sauce, Olive Oil, Garlic, Hot Pepper appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

The joy of publishing a food blog is that suddenly the right side of the brain grows much larger than the left side and moving in the kitchen becomes increasingly fun and playful.

My right hemisphere told me to grill watermelon slices for dinner and my left hemisphere was so asleep it had no time to say, “no, no, no, watermelon has to be COLD, “ or” grilling melon is illogical.” But, seafood and fruit is a natural.

I didn’t search the food blogs or ravage through my many cook books and food magazines. I just thought it would be fun to grill some watermelon as a side dish to my sea scallops. I had no clue as to how to grill it, or how to season it, so I didn’t do much more than salt and a hot grill, but I’m sure you could take this in many directions.

Grilled watermelon, a little spinach cooked in garlic and olive oil , perfectly seared scallops and we have a sensible hot night in the south dinner that takes about 15 minutes, from beginning to end. Did I say sensible? Well sensible in that this is healthy and a much better choice than pizza delivery. But, still, there is a child-like flavor and attitude to this dish. Makes me think about the kind of food kids put together before people start teaching them from recipe books.

Still, I wondered how the watermelon would fare on a hot grill. Would it fall apart or lose its essence? The first bite was juicy, hot, firm, and did not overpower the sweetness of perfectly cooked scallops. Did I use that word “perfect “ again?

After watching Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen, I am only all too aware of scallops not cooked properly. When I am making scallops I feel like I have the eyes of the judges or worse, Gordon Ramsay, looking at me waiting to pounce and spit in my face because I stupidly turned the scallops into rubber. Perhaps this fear has given me the patience and determination to make the perfect scallop, caramelized, yet tender and earning my due place inside a kitchen.

I recall that a few of the contestants on Top Chef did not pull the muscle off the scallop. HOW is that possible that they didn’t know? Even I would agree that the most perfectly cooked, seared, tender, sweet scallop that still has the rubbery, chewy muscle attached needs to be tossed across the room.

Thus, a sweet satisfaction every time my scallops turn out properly cooked. I can let out a big sigh of relief. And, now I brag, not because I am a know it all cook, but because I am over my scallopphobia! I think I have crossed over the “take a first bite with my eyes closed” to see if they are judge worthy. Sure, I have made scallops, here and here, but today I crossed the totally consistent perfection line because this makes three times in a row of the perfect Top Chef worthy scallop.

I discovered in my research that I am not alone in this scallop intenseness. Sippity Sup, a fellow food blogger, shares fascinating and funny information about reasons for scallop failure citing the additive STP as the most likely culprit. He offers some recommendations on how to purchase and cook scallops that is worth a trip to his site.

And, there are other reasons for my commitment to scallop perfection. Wild scallops are expensive and I only eat wild scallops, so cooking them improperly is a real ouch. And, most importantly, scallops are my husband’s favorite food in the whole world. A few minutes of standing over a hot saute pan and delivering up these sea beauties will get me lots of points, cappuccino in bed, dishes done, and a Kitchen Aid maybe just maybe? Oops, I forgot he reads my blog, but I didn’t come up with this tag line for nothing.

Does this combination work?
Surprisingly well. It’s a sweet meat upon a sweet fruit leveled with a generous dash of sea salt, taking in completely different textures, resulting in a dinner that is beautiful to look at and thirst quenching. But, the real test..is it “memorable” and the next day, we wanted it again.

Is there a new combination that you have just tried? Is there a food or dish you need to conquer? Tell me about it here. Perhaps we can conquer it together!

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Grilled Watermelon with Seared Wild Scallops

A wonderful mix of flavors and textures, seared scallops and grilled watermelon.

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound scallops
• olive oil to cover pan
• watermelon slices cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices.
• salt pepper

Instructions

• Bring scallops to near room temperature. Ice cold scallops won’t cook inside.
• Remove muscle, a little rubbery piece on side of scallop.
• Pat Dry. Season with salt and pepper
• Use a pan (not non-stick) that is large enough to give each scallop plenty of room. I use all-clad 12 inch pan.
• When scallops are crowded, they steam, instead of caramelize.
• Add enough butter in pre-heated pan that when melted pan is covered. Add in a little bit of olive oil.
• Add scallops to hot pan, and do not try to turn until they are brown and no longer stick, 4-6 minutes.
• Turn and cook for a few more minutes. Immediately remove from pan.
• WATERMELON RECIPE
• The watermelon was doused a tiny drizzle of olive oil and salt, and grilled on high, until I decided it gets grill marks.

Recipes Featuring Grilled Watermelon

• Grilled Watermelon Salad at Suite101.com
• Grilled Watermelon at Food Blogga
• Halibut with Grilled Watermelon

Or try my Blackberry Glazed Watermelon with Lavender Sea Salt on a day I did get fancy.

The post Grilled Watermelon with Seared Wild Scallops appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Well, thank the french that I changed my mind, hurried to the store and right smack in the middle of Wednesday, we had the type of lunch that deserved a bottle of wine. It completely fits my tag line of food a woman will love (because it’s light) and a man will marry her for) because it’s big on flavor and satisfaction.

I fully expected DC, the lover of all things seafood, especially shrimp and scallops, to not like this dish because he doesn’t like any kind cream sauce, deeming them gooey and tasteless. I started thinking ahead on how I could sneak more flavor in the dish and maybe my Wednesday Whisk group wouldn’t notice. Shame on me for not understanding the concept of a flavor delivery from a seafood broth made with wine and cream. We had all the flavor we needed.

It is important to properly clean the mussels. Once cooked, they open up, and should be immediately removed from the heat.

As far as sticking with the recipe, I decreased the scallops and added more shrimp, only because the scallops were $16 a pound. Next time though, we will use more scallops because they were tender and flavorful and searing is not the only way to eat scallops.

This dish is not complicated to make and was ready start to finish in under an hour. It’s an easy and elegant dinner party dish. It was delicious over brown rice with a side of lemony peas, using lots of lemon zest and a bit of olive oil. As the peas fell into the seafood, it added yet another layer of flavor and color and I might do this intentionally the next time. At a dinner party, I would serve the salad last with a very lemony champagne vinaigrette, followed by a decadent french dessert that had berries.

What did I learn?
No matter how much I fight this, there is a benefit in following classical recipes and remaining open-minded. It is difficult for me to cook reading a recipe and not knowing exactly where the writer is taking me. Holding a recipe under my nose is like holding sheet music underneath the musician who plays by ear. I feel and taste my way through cooking and the creative process is my greatest pleasure. However, recipes bring polish and understanding to the process and I appreciate the discipline.

Food fears need to be beaten over the head with a whisk and today I conquered mussels. Every cooking experience makes you a better cook, and increases your ability to “taste” and “improvise.”

So get out there and cook some live mussels in a wine butter broth or whatever your food fear is and see where it takes you.

Please refer to my sidebar for the Whisk Wednesday Blog Roll and see how other experienced this recipe.

Recipe  (adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home) Serves 2

• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 pound live mussels
• 1/2 pound wild scallops, cleaned, removing the muscle, cut in half across
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine (this is more than recipe for 2 servings)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, divided
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper

Mussels:

1. Scrape mussel shells  clean with fork. Throw out any mussels that are not completely closed.
2. Place 1 tablespoon butter in saucepan.
3. Add shallot just until soft, then add wine and parsley and boil.
4. Add mussels and cook until mussels open, about six minutes. Remove opened mussels immediately. Remove mussels to a bowl to cool.
5. Pour broth through a sieve. (The book suggests using a dishcloth. I didn’t) Return to saucepan. Once mussels are cool, remove from shells, set aside, discard shells.

Scallops: Add to saucepan of broth, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to simmer 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon to a dish.

Mushrooms: Slice, and saute quickly in large saute pan in 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add scallops, mussels and uncooked shrimp. Shrimp will only take a few minutes to cook, so add in just as you are heating the cream.

Cream Sauce: Bring mussel broth to a boil. Add cream and whisk quickly. Bring to boil, simmer for 2 minutes.

Just as shrimp are cooked, add cream sauce. Toss. Serve immediately.

Notes: Original recipe has more scallops than shrimp and serves 6.
Refer to the book for the original recipe.

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