Scallops in white wine sauce

My infatuation with Asian cooking did not seem to last long, I'm back to the Mediterranean! Though, I am still planning on giving Pad See Ewe at try (even though everything I've read says you need a commercial gas oven to make it taste right) and something with peanut sauce.

Anyway I randomly bought some bay scallops (ie the little ones) a while back. In the US it seems we eat a lot more jumbo scallops, normally grilled, but in Italy they would show up in the delicious seafood medley pasta dishes with very light wine or butter sauces. Heaven? Heaven.

I thought, I could do this. I make mussels in a wine sauce, why not some scallops? Earlier that day, I was looking at my garden, specifically the rosemary and it seemed like it might just go nicely in this sauce. Plus the parsley at the grocery store was looking pretty sad that day.

Ingredients
Bay scallops, 8 oz
linguini, 6oz (~1/2 box)
2 cups white wine
5 Tb of butter, separated
3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary (remove leaves from stem)
1 tomato, diced
Garlic, to taste
Salt to taste

Heat 1 Tb of butter in a large sauce pan on med-high to high heat. When the pan is hot and the butter melted add the scallops and sear for 1-2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add the remaining butter and the wine. Stir occasionally until the butter is melted and add the tomatoes, rosemary leaves, garlic and salt. Simmer on med-high heat and reduce the sauce for about 20-25 minutes or until it reaches desired thickness (should reduce by about half).

When the sauce has been reducing for approximately 10 minutes, begin preparing pasta according to the package directions (ie start boiling water around this time or the sauce won't be reduced enough). When the pasta is al dente, drain it and put in the sauce pan with the wine sauce and add the scallops. Toss the pasta and scallops in the sauce and allow to simmer for 1-3 minutes (this will give the pasta a nice flavor and heat up the scallops a bit). Serve immediately. Makes two adult-sized servings.

In the photo you will notice I had a bunch of scallops, I actually made this with a 16 oz package and the ratio was just too much, so I scaled it back.

Also, you don't want leftovers from this dish - it just won't be that great the second time around, mostly because re-heating will over cook your scallops and make them chewy. They cook very quickly - don't over do it, really a minute or maximum two is plenty.

One final note, this sauce is a basic wine-butter sauce and almost exactly like this one for mussels - try it on both pasta and mussels and expand your repertoire!

Enjoy!

Broccoli fish bake

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm in a fish rut and need to be more creative with the seafood, not just putting some lemon pepper on white fish and sticking it under the broiler. The idea of a casserole is something that appeals to me, in a time management sense, though I typically don't like all my food mixed together. I'm that person on Thanksgiving who is trying to keep all their food from touching each other.

However, I decided to give this broccoli-fish-cheese concoction a shot. Overall, a satisfying experience. It cooked much faster than a casserole made with chicken because it has fish and I enjoy just about anything with cheese. I would not say that it makes a good meal solo, which is a shame, because that is the point of a casserole! I decided pretty quickly that it needed some rice and thankfully, has some Uncle Ben's ready rice in the cupboard.

This is a cambell's recipe, which I found on allrecipes.com see it here or pasted below.

1 (10 ounce) package frozen broccoli spears, cooked and drained
1 pound fresh or thawed frozen firm white fish fillets (cod, haddock or halibut)
1 (10.75 ounce) Broccoli cheese soup Soup
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon paprika

Arrange broccoli in 2-quart shallow baking dish. Top with fish. Mix soup and milk and pour over fish. Sprinkle with cheese. Mix bread crumbs, butter and paprika and sprinkle on top. Bake at 450 degrees F for 20 minutes or until fish is done.

I used fresh broccoli. Honestly, I don't know why anyone would use frozen but if you want to, go for it. Fresh worked just fine, left the broccoli a little crunchy, but I like that. I also used tilapia, and suspect any white fish would do the trick. I would also recommend you to go heavy on the bread crumbs, it made a very nice crispy layer on the top.

Sorry I don't have a photo...I forgot to take one.

Lemon pepper tilapia in the crock pot

My slow cooker experiences have been mixed at best, so I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to try and make fish in the crock pot. Seemed like a good idea when I saw the recipe at A Year of Slow Cooking. I did not use the Orange Honey Tilapia recipe but rather only copied the fish packet technique.

I had to make this on a weekend because waiting for two hours on a weeknight for something I could bake in less than 10 minutes in the oven would be horribly impractical. This technique could be really practical, however, if you will be busy prepping other dishes right before the meal and would like the fish to already be taken care of.

Simply sprinkle your desired white fish (tilapia for me) with seasoning (used lemon pepper) and fold it in a packet of foil. Place each packet it the crock pot for two hours on low or until it flakes with a fork. Simple!

Tequila lime mussels

For my first attempt at making mussels I went for the classic Mussels a la Marinere, mussels in a nice wine sauce. So recently, I was walking around Eastern Market and I saw that they had fresh mussels for sale ($3.25/lb!) and I just had to buy them. What am I gonna do with them? No idea.

I took my mussels home, deciding that I wanted to try something different, so I browse around and I find a recipe for "Mike's Drunk Mussels." Tequila, lime and mussels, sounds fabulous, right?

1 teaspoon cooking oil
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 cup tequila
1/4 cup water
1 lime, juiced
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons diced jalapeno peppers (optional)
2 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Cook red pepper and onion in oil, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.
Stir in tequila, water, lime juice, fresh pepper and jalapenos. Bring to a boil, and dump in the mussels. Sprinkle the cilantro over the mussels, and cover with a tight fitting lid. Allow to steam for 3 to 4 minutes, or until all mussels have opened (discard any that don't).

I went to the grocery store and liquor store and made me some drunk mussels. Were they good??? They were alright. The mussels were normal, tasted like mussels. I like cilantro, so having boatloads of cilantro in there was nice...all the green in the photo is cilantro.


The negative was that the sauce so was so alcoholic. The tequila only cooks for a few minutes with the mussels so it still has a lot of alcohol in it. After I dipped a few pieces of bread in the sauce I was practically drunk, each one was like taking a shot. Which is ok if that's what you're going for, but I wasn't. My favorite part of mussels is dipping bread in the sauce, so not being able to do that (without a hangover the next day) is a big negative for me.

In short, this is a good alternative to the classic French style of mussels but I don't think it's something I'd make regularly, maybe with less tequila or with reducing the sauce a bit.

Scallops tartare

Did you know you can eat scallops raw? I had no idea! My other big food-related adventure in Normandy was a cooking demonstration on several different ways to prepare the local scallops, one of which was scallops tartare. While I had some initial reservations about eating a raw scallop, I then thought, "what the hell, I'm in France and if anyone knows food, it's the French."

***Keep in mind I was in a scallop fishing region, during the scallop fishing season and these were very fresh scallops. Use caution should you decide to prepare scallops tartare.

Scallops Tartare

Fresh scallops
Soy sauce
Cider vinegar*
Shallot
Chives
Lemmon zest

*I'm assuming that this is produced with the regional cider, but I believe I've seen in it in grocery stores in the US also. I haven't checked yet.

Finely dice fresh scallops. Toss with 1 part soy sauce to 2 parts cider vinegar and lemon zest and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Garnish with chives and serve as an appetizer.

I enjoyed the raw scallops a lot but I think if I try to make them at home (I think I can get fresh scallops from the Maryland coast) I might try orange zest instead of lemon. I have notes on a few other scallop recipes that the chef showed us but to be honest, they don't make a whole lot of sense, if I can figure it out I will post on them later. You'll notice the photo is obviously of another one of the recipes and not the scallops tartare. It's also blurry because I took it on my camera phone. I will try to get it together should I be in France at a cooking demonstration again.

Fish Fiesta!

Have I mentioned I like cheesy alliteration? Well, really I like just about anything with cheese. Alright, I'll stop.


I make this recipe for Mexican Baked Fish almost every other week, especially in the summer when avocado is fresh and cheap.

It's also really healthy - low fat fish, fiber from the avocado - plus after the back to back cookie recipes, I need it!

I do make one major change, I use Tilapia instead of cod. First, because the majority of cod stocks are severely overfished to the point they may never recover. The exception is Pacific Cod off the Alaskan coast, but it can be hard to know where/how fish is caught. Tilapia is also a cheap, basic, white fish that is easy to keep on hand.

This recipe is great because it uses minimal ingredients and things I usually have on hand, with the exception of avocado. The work-taste ratio is through the roof, it takes almost no prep time or cook time. Add some rice and it's a meal! It's easy to adjust the amount you want to make, just lay the desired number of fish in a pan and top with salsa and cheese. Simple. It's also good the next day to take to lunch or dinner night two.

I've also made an "Italian" version of this, substitute diced tomatoes or marinara sauce for salsa; mozzarella for cheddar; and bread crumbs for chips. It's not quite as good but will work in a pinch.

Taste: A
Cost: A-
Waste: A+

The power of food

Can the way we eat change the world? This question was posed to me last week by a coworker (I work at an environmental org) and myself and another colleague immediately said, "yes."

Since then, I've been thinking about what I eat and the choices I have at the grocery store. Is my environmental guilt escalating? You betcha. Over the years I've made a number of decisions about what to eat and how much based on both health and environment. For example:

1. I try to eat less meat, especially red both because meat cultivation is bad for the environment and red meat in particular should be limited for health reasons. I also have ethical concerns about industrial farming techniques and think some of that could be reduced if everyone was conscious about their meat choices.
2. I try and eat in season. This is good for the environment, healthier and saves me money.
3. I don't eat veal, or as I like to call it - baby cow in a box.
4. I try to be conscious of my seafood choices. This is a tough one because there are so many issues. Seafood is a great source of lean protein, can contain mercury, Omega 3s, some seafood is overfished, or farmed in environmentally harmful ways...sometimes I buy something at the store and then check Seafood Watch and see it's overfished and feel guilty (especially if it's yummy and I want it again). Luckily most of the issues surrounding salmon and tuna I can avoid because I don't like them anyway but I LOVE shrimp. Most shrimp is farmed in South East Asia or Latin America and it's really bad for the environment. I try to resist and definitely eat less than I used to, but sometimes I fall off the wagon.

So those are the things I'm doing pretty well on but room for improvement? Of course especially on:

1. Buying more local/organic produce. Organic produce is especially hard for me because it's much more expensive most of the time and usually doesn't keep as long, meaning I pay more for it and then it goes bad before I even get a chance to eat it. When you cook for 1 a single cucumber might be in 3-4 meals!
2. Health...yea I had hash-browns for dinner a few nights ago. I also eat way too much cheese and too many baked goods but I'm not trying to cut out either of those!
3. Organics/ethical products in general. Package organic food can also be challenging both because of the higher costs and because there is usually not a big variety of package sizes. This is still a niche market and normally only the 'standard size' is available, whereas I would usually buy the small size. I find this to be a problem with cage-free eggs especially. I feel I would like to buy them but they only come in 1dz packages and it's just more eggs than I can use, sometimes the 8-pack of eggs my store sells is too much!
4. Plastic. I recently became aware of the huge environmental problem that is plastic but almost all food comes in plastic. I don't put my produce in plastic bags anymore because there really is no need but past that I haven't made any progress.

I really do think what we eat makes a difference. The power of consumer purchasing is huge, companies will manufacture anything as long as they can sell it and make a profit, making good choices with our purchases shows that there is a market for good, sustainable products. I realize I'm a long way from perfect in my purchasing choices but I'm trying to be aware of the downfalls and slowly move in the right direction.

Mussels al la Marinere

I've been wanting to try making mussels for a long time but have been put off because I did not really know what to do and thought I'd screw them up. Now I'm pretty sure they are virtually impossible to screw up!

Not only are mussels always delicious when I have them in restaurants (and now at home!) but they are also a great seafood choice because growing them has a very low environmental impact, they actually clean the water while growing! Mussels are also healthy and fairy inexpensive for seafood. I bough a bag of probably 50 mussels for $4.99.

I read up on cleaning and debearding mussels before making them but honestly when I bought them at the store they were practically ready to roll. A few still had beards attached but a quick tug and they were gone. This YouTube video shows you how to clean and check the mussels.


At one point, I was a little creeped out because I realized the mussles were still alive and found it a little disconcerting. However, they need to be alive or you don't want to cook and eat them. Still when I went to soak them in water it was weird to see little bubbles come up.

The recipe I made can be found here. I followed the advice someone else left in the recipes comments about doubling the sauce and serving the mussels and sauce over pasta but honestly, I think it was a totally unnecessary thing to do. I was perfectly happy with the mussels and some bread to dip in the sauce. You'll want a crusty bread. I used a multi-grain baguette.


To summarize, my tips for making Mussels a la Mariniere:
1. Serving over pasta not needed
2. Be sure to soak the mussels in fresh water for 20min
3. Do not leave the mussels in a plastic bag after purchasing, they will die
4. Buy two bottles of wine if you want to have a few glasses with dinner, especially if you plan to double the sauce
5. Buy lots of bread, dipping is the best part

Taste: A+
Cost: B+
Waste: A

I'm starting to feel adventurous...

I feel like I haven't cooked in ages. All last week I ate but practically no cooking, and the week before? I'm sure I cooked something, but spent most of the week subsisting on Lean Cuisine and cleaning out the fridge. So now I'm feeling a little spunky.

And I'm thinking mussels. I love eating mussels but I've never cooked them. I've never even seen them cooked by someone else! From eating mussels, I know that the secret is a fabulous sauce. If the sauce is good, eating bread dipped in the sauce can make the actual mussels a side-show. My last attempt at a learning a new sauce was a total disaster, however, a yummy looking recipe I found would fulfill the criteria for all 3 of my cooking goals this year: 1) Try cooking mussels or scallops 2) Learn wine sauces 3) Learn reduction sauces. Seems like it's meant to be.

So I'm doing some reconnaissance on mussel preparation. I read a great article on allrecipes.com about mussel preparation and I'm starting to feel prepared, although I'm still not sure I have the slightest idea how to debeard a mussel. Maybe I will look for a YouTube video on mussel cleaning and give it a whirl this weekend.

A foodie, but a seafoodie?

Making seafood automatically impresses people. There are so many different kinds of fish whereas beef is pretty much beef and chicken is chicken! But don't be intimidated by the variety, making seafood is so easy. Plus it's healthy (lean protein, low calorie, Omega 3s) and quick.

I'm a Midwestern girl but I've always loved seafood and now that I'm living near the coast I'm taking advantage. This week, I made flounder for the first time and it was absolutely delicious. It was an old family recipe...do you believe that BS? I'm from the Midwest! The recipe is one they were giving out at the seafood counter.

I pared the recipe down a little to make it more single girl appropriate and it says to use flounder but you should be able to use any flaky, white fish (tilapia, halibut, bluefish - I think any would work).

Parmesan Flounder

12 oz Flounder (3-4 fillets)
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese
olive oil or butter

Place small amount of olive oil or butter in a medium skillet on medium heat. Place flour and egg each in shallow bowls. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese together in a third shallow bowl. Coat fillets in flour, dip in egg and then coat in the bread crumb-cheese mixture. Place in skillet and cook approx 6 minutes, turning halfway through.


Be careful not to overcook the fish, they really only take a few minutes. I actually singed the last fillet a bit because I was trying to take a picture of the finished plated product. Oops.


This was the first time I made this dish and it turned out fabulously. Very light. Definitely going to be making this again possibly with tilapia or mahi mahi.

Don't tell anyone how easy it was, let 'em be fooled!

Taste: A-
Waste: B (breading)
Cost: B-