Friday, June 17, 2011

Grilled Scallops with Shallot Wine Sauce

Sometimes meals exist that are so simple that I feel almost guilty posting 'recipes' for them. OK-- most meals fit this criteria for me. Usually my cooking involves a skillet, a bit of fat, sauteeing onion and garlic, adding protein, and placing on a salad of some kind. If I'm not eating that way, I'm simpling mincing things and assembling them in bowls.*

So, this is one of those, but the flavors and temperatures and textures all spun together so lightly and perfectly that I thought I'd share, so that perhaps those out there who are currently honing their culinary intuition may dance with them as well. Oh! Ok, I've over-romanced my food here. Don't I have the right to do this?!


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This is a perfect example of quality ingredients holding up an entire meal. I recently procured some wild-caught scallops during a One-Day-Sale of $9.99/lb. I am a being who loves her some seafood. This sale excited me greatly and I brought home the pillowy little nuggets. I thought of using half of them for one thing and the part for ceviche (insert dreamy sigh here) but I decided for a very simple approach to cooking them all at once.

Simple: In a dish you can put on the grill (skillet/aluminum dish, etc...) marinate** scallops in melted butter, sea-salt, shallot, thyme, and white pepper. I added a sprinkling of citrus peel. There may have been some other things? Let it sit for a few hours.

Skewer this. Set aside the pan containing the marinade/hardened butter and such. Mince up some garlic and grab a few more herbs. You can either grill the scallops or 'roast' them on the grill, which I did by jerry-rigging up a little 'rotisserie' skewer balanced on two rack-supports. Um, just grill them.


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While they're grilling, set the marinating pan on the grill and let it begin to bubble and pop. Deglaze with a little red wine and scrape and stir until reduced. Good job! That is your sauce. Serve on scallops atop a mixed green salad.

Pau!

*May I come clean about something pertaining to bowl-meals? Really? Oh, I will in another post.
**Grammar point: Marinade is a noun. Marinate is a verb. Got it? Comprende? 了解? Capiche? Maopopo?

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Plans

I'll be soon releasing a list of local resources and plans for some very interesting little short films about local farmers, business owners, or characters. Stay tuned!

Happy Eating!

Monday, June 6, 2011

(Non) Bread

IMG_8448 by CaptainShen
No-Grain Bread!
I'm generally a happy little thing, hopping around with wild-caught fishes, grass-fed meats, a pleathora of cheeses, coconut milk (and oil, and flesh, and vinegar, and shoyu...), and other delectables that we primals nourish ourselves with.

However, every now and then, I want a freaking sandwich. I want a sandwich on something that won't crack thinly under its load. I want a sandwich that won't leave my hands wet. I want a sandwich that I can set down once I've started eating (is this a common phenomenon?).

I was happy to find a recipe at Middlin' Plus that targeted each of the problem areas involved with "primal bread," (saying those words makes me a bit disdainful, still). And delicious it was. It held up spongefully, it comforted springily, and it held my sandwich's contents loyally. Thank you, bread-that-isn't-bread. You were lovely.

Primal Sandwich Toad-In-The-Hole

First, a lovely tuna-salad sandwich. And behold our second photo, the glorious and long abstained from, toad-in-the-hole. I remember my little sister asking me to make that for breakfast. I still cherished the leftover 'biscuit' and topped it with coconut-butter and strawberries. (Those in the background are some self-spiced sausages. Pork? Methinks.)

(I used sharp cheddar added a barely-stirred line of chili powder and some toasted pepitas. It was deliciously similar to jalepeno cornbread. Give it a go!)