Friday, March 6, 2009

I can cook scallops!

Day 65: Recipe 13

My goal is to be at 45 recipes by the end of March, so that at least I'm halfway caught up.

So I love scallops whenever I eat them in restaurants, but I've been really anxious about making them myself because they're expensive and everyone says they're really complex. However, last night during my grocery store visit I decided, what the heck?

So I went to the seafood counter and asked for 2 scallops. "Only two?" the guy asked. "Only two," I confirmed. "I've never cooked them before, so I'm just experimenting." "Makes sense," he said, and wrapped them up for me. "Two scallops, that'll be $300."

And THAT is why I only got two. (I should probably clarify that they weren't really that much.)

I was really nervous about cooking them. If my boss didn't read this, I might admit that I spent about an hour this afternoon watching videos about how to cook them online. But since she (and her mom) do, I won't tell you that.

There's this dish from one of my favorite LiveJournal communities ever, Food Porn, that I've been wanting to try for a while, so I figured I'd try to throw that together, even though there's not a real recipe, but instead just ingredients.

And it worked!

Red Pepper Scallop Pasta

Red Pepper Scallop Pasta from here
serves 2

at least 2 scallops (though next time I'm totally using more)
14 oz of spaghetti
1 red pepper
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
oregano
basil
olive oil
salt
pepper

The night before, cut up the onion and pepper and put it in a container. Dump some olive oil, salt, and pepper in, and let it sit overnight. (Mix it or flip it over a couple of times so that all of the veggies get marinated.

The next day, cook up the pasta.

Put the veggies in a pan and saute them over medium heat in the olive oil with the garlic, oregano, and basil (and other herbs you think would work if you have them) until the onions are relatively clear. Once they're cooked, dump them and most of the olive oil into the pasta.

Put the pan over high heat and tend to the scallops. I cut them in half horizontally, so I ended up with 4 discs. Season one side with salt and pepper, and then put them, seasoned side down, into the pan. Let them cook and sprinkle the up side with more salt and pepper. Flip them when they're nicely browned - it took me about a minute and a half. After another minute and a half, you're done!

Serve up the pasta and veggies, then top with the scallops.

You can cook scallops, too!

Survey Says
Overall, we really liked it! One thing I'll change next time is that this time I cut the veggies in strips, next time I'd dice into small squares. Also, I'd use more scallops now that I know I can cook them and make them taste yummy.

My husband wanted something to balance out onions and peppers, but isn't sure what he's looking for. It might be that they needed to cook for a little longer so that they weren't as strong tasting, but we're not sure if that's it. Any suggestions?

But yes, we're definitely making it again.

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