Pan Seared Scallops with Beet Greens and Shallots and Pasta

Since it was the weekend and my neice Kristen was coming over, I served a non-meat dish (she will eat fish, but not other forms of meat). As I went to the grocery store I noticed nice looking large scallops and got a pound and a half of them. I'd already put summer squash, several beets with greens, cilantro and parsely into the cart, not knowing what I'd make.

Once home I hit upon the menu:
Spaghetti with pan seared scallops, shallots, serranos and beet greens
Braised Beets
BBQed summer squash spears, marinated in olive oil, salt and pepper.

The key to making this recipe yummy is to properly cook the scallops. When properly done, they are moist and tender (not rubbery in the slightest) and deep brown from the pan searing, and they release a substantial yummy brown in the pan, that when deglazed, makes a fabulous sauce. While I made it pretty well, I used too much peanut oil and so the searing wasn't as deep, and there wasn't as much brown sauce. Ah well, one learns the same lessons over and over (and sometimes, "incorrect variations yield delicious surprises!).

I would say the flavor combination at base in this recipe is the shallots and the scallops (nice slant rhyme, eh?). They are to be offset by some sort of braised light leafy green. I've traditionally used rainbow chard, but the beet greens were superb. I also find that a chilli pepper, generally poblanos, adds to a nice flavor combo.

What I normally do is heat a large pan to very hot temperature with a bit of peanut oil. You can add some dried piquin peppers to the oil for flavoring and brown them first, but I didn't this time. Then add your scallops, sprinkling with kosher salt and freshly crushed black pepper. You want high heat to sear them quickly -- you don't want them getting overdone. A few minutes on each side until they are nicely browned and are oozing liquid. Remove them and set them aside.

Next, add the shallots (I used about 5 or 6 large shallots, peeled and minced). Add about 2 chopped serranos, and a bit of kosher salt and crushed black pepper (I will often use 2 or 3 roasted poblano peppers, peeled, seeded and diced, but today I opted tof the smaller serranos). When the shallots and peppers have cooked a minute or two, add some white wine to deglaze the pan and throw in the beet greens (or chard). The beet greens should have been de-stemmed (otherwise you'll get redish sauce). I destem the chard too. Chop it fairly well before adding.

The beet greens won't take long, so time this dish so the pasta (I prefer a long pasta for this dish) is ready about 2 minutes after you throw in the beet greens. Remove from the heat, add the scallops back in and toss with the pasta. Though it's considered gauche and a sin, I like to add reggiano parmesean after tossing. It's very good.

For the beets, I cleaned them and chopped off the heads and tails and braised them in white wine. I normally would have used a bit of chicken stock, but deferred to the vegetarian desires of my niece. I forgot, like a dumb-ass, to peel them.

For the squash, I trimmed them and had them cut into spears, soaked them in olive oil, salt and pepper, then threw them on the grill, turning them until nicely browned.

We drank Johannesberg Resiling from some Idaho vinter with it. Not too bad, for a white wine -- which I was sipping in the late afternoon and it lasted through to dinner.

Easter Dinner

I love not knowing what I'm cooking before I get to the store. Sometimes I surprise myself. Today on the way in to the store I saw packages of Pita bread. Instantly I knew what I wanted, and it was a far cry from the sort of dinner I'd planned to make--something with lamb or a crown of pork roast. But, I'm tired, feeling a bit jittery from the big chocolate easter egg I ate this afternoon (with no other food) and perhaps from the sleight hangover from last night's wine consumption.

D. agreed readily, and we trundled over to get some green leaf lettuce, some ripe hothouse tomatoes, some sliced turkey breast (talk about lazy), some muenster cheese. I also picked up some asparagus since I wanted a nice veggie.

I got some tortilla strips and decided to make the mango salsa we had last night at the party. I bought some mangos, some grape tomatoes, some red bell peppers, a white onion and some serranos. I've got some cilantro on hand, and I can't think of anything else that was in the recipe.

I'll assemble the sandwiches and the salsa, and I'll pan roast the asparagus.

***

Here is the plate with my serving.



Everything came out pretty good, except I mangled the mango, and should have cut the grape tomatoes into quarters. The asparagus, which I roasted in olive oil, came out very nice -- didn't even really need butter.

I served this with Newcastle Brown Ale, to be followed shortly (before the sun goes down) by a nice cold gin martini.

Welcome to Dinner at my House!

Since this is the first post on this blog, I will not talk about a specific recipe but about my methods. Listen, I'm not a chef, I'm just a man who likes to cook, to eat, to be with friends and family, to drink good beer and wine, to enjoy cocktails. And so these are the things I'll talk about here.

I cook dinner weekends and sometimes during the week. These aren't generally recipies construed out of a recipe book, though I look to them for inspiration and advice and new ideas. I tend, rather, to go to the grocery store and see what's available. Sometimes, what I'm cooking is a rehash of what I've cooked and reported on many times. Still, each attempt is a unique night in its own right.

Don't expect one of those amazing feats of bloggerdom where the person cooking goes through the entire Julia Child's French Cooking -- I'm way too lazy for that. What I will do is describe the meal I cooked, perhaps starting with the grocery store excursion, and building from there. I'll give the recipe in general terms, and for common dishes I'll link to formal recipe.

I've read only one cookbook cover to cover, Tom Colchinos "Think Like a Chef". His methods have inspired me -- and I just do what feels right to me. My method of inspection is all about whether I was happy with the food. Taste is something one can never argue about, and some of what I think works will be horrific to some readers - I've been known to serve dishes from multiple cuisines on the same menu and to mingle ideas from cultures in one dish. It doesn't always work, even for me.

I'm slowly trying to try specific recipies, or "set dishes", and when I do that, I'll announce it. I am a pasta fiend, and could eat it every night. My kids love potatoes. When appropriate we eat rice, generally basmati, jasmine, or chinese short grain.

This is not a vegetarian blog. We eat meat. By meat I mean, Steak, Lamb, Veal, Pork and Chicken. We also eat fish and shellfish, though not as much as I'd like. Where I live, hopelessly landlocked in Utah, the only fresh fish easily available is from Costco. And though I hate large chains, Costco get's me good fish and meat for a reasonable price.

We love vegetables, and regularly have a large vegetable side (cooked) and / or a large salad (especially in the summer, when we have fresh tomatoes). We garden in our yard and raise tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers and squash, and hopefully some peas and lettuce (it's getting late!). I'm particularly fond of braising vegetables and pan roasting things like asparagus and green beans.

I welcome your comments, I'll gladly expound an area I've glossed over if you ask. I'm interested in insight into what might have gone wrong with a dish I've tried. I'm also interested in critique as to unneeded steps I'm taking (there is a certain religious quality to my cooking, where I ritually follow all the steps that led to my idea of success.

Finally, a bit about me. I'm in my late 40's, married with four daughters, living in the SLC area of Utah. Two of my daughters are married and two live at home. The oldest married daughter lives here with my grandaughter and her husband. Here is a short gloss of the characters that might be attending my dinnners.

D. - my lover / partner
Amy, Ben and Ay. - daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.
Melissa and B. - daugher and son-in-law
Tina - daughter
Caitlin - daughter
Jono - dear friend, who occasionally stays over
Deano - dear friend who lives nearby, who comes over often
biloba - a friend from school who sometimes comes over on sundays.

Welcome to Dinner at my House!