Another Cooking Fear Bites the Dust

It’s Tuesday which has me excited for several reasons—

1.Glee comes on tonight! And this week it features guest star Neil Patrick Harris which I am very excited about.

2.Also coming on tonight—Lost! I have been a Lost fan since Season 1 (which is still, in my opinion, the best season ever) and even though I have not completely understood all of the series’ twists and turns, I have seen it through and I am really excited about the remaining two episodes and hopeful that it will all come together in the end.

3.I faced another one of my cooking fears in making dinner tonight….scallops. Now I am not really sure why I have been so reluctant to try my hand at this over the years…maybe because scallops done right are wonderful but scallops done poorly are just plain gross?

I decided to try a relatively simple preparation to start with—Seared Scallops with Spinach and Bacon.  I mean come on—scallops seared in bacon fat? How could you possibly go wrong with that?

Overall I would give the recipe and resulting dish a B. Definitely an A for presentation—Jason and I both thought it looked delightful. But I was a bit disappointed with the result. Part of it was certainly my fault—the scallops were not all the same size and I think the smaller ones ended up suffering in order for the larger ones to cook all the way through. In retrospect, I probably should have pulled the smaller ones off sooner. Also, I accidentally bought a pre-washed package of regular spinach instead of baby spinach and did not realize my mistake until I added the spinach to the pan. The baby spinach probably would have been a bit more tender. Overall, I’d say dinner was good, but not as great as I was hoping for.  But I was happy to have successfully faced down another cooking fear.

Seared Scallops with Spinach and Bacon
Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
3 slices of center-cut bacon
6 jumbo sea scallops (about 1 lb)
½ white onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 ounces fresh spinach
Salt and pepper

1.Cook bacon in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp (do not use non-stick as it will prevent the scallops from properly searing). Remove back from pan and set aside, reserving 1 TBL drippings in the pan.  Increase heat to high.
2.Pat scallops dry with paper towels. Sprinkle scallops evenly with salt and pepper. Add scallops to pan, cooking 2-3 minutes per side or until done. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.
3.Reduce heat to medium-high. Add onion and garlic to pan and sauté for about three minutes, stirring frequently. Add half of spinach, cook 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add remaining spinach and cook until just wilted. Remove from heat.  Add salt and pepper.
4.Divide spinach mixture among plates and top with chopped bacon and scallops.

Spicing Things Up

I generally find Tuesdays to be sort of “blah." They are not as bad as Mondays (which pretty much always suck) but don’t have the “week is halfway over” excitement that Wednesdays do. Tuesdays are just kind of there. This week I decided to try and liven Tuesday up with a tasty dinner. I think Shrimp Fra Diavolo translates to “shrimp of the devil” or something like that. And that is a pretty apt description given the heat this dish has going on.

I have made this particular recipe a number of times over the years, experimenting with it until I got it almost exactly where Jason and I wanted it. My first addition was the mushrooms. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Jason and I are big fans of fungi….we could pretty much eat mushrooms on anything. But I honestly think the addition of the mushrooms makes the dish a lot more interesting than it would be otherwise. Next I added the orzo. Jason and I are fans of another, more summery shrimp and orzo salad so I decided to see how the orzo would work here. Oh, it definitely works!

I’m thinking that next time around I might add some baby spinach (thrown in at the end) to give the plate some additional green and increase the nutritional value. But overall, I’d recommend this as a quick and tasty meal that is sure to spice up any day of the week.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients:
8 ounces of orzo pasta
1 1lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon salt, plus additional as needed
1 teaspoon dried, crushed red pepper flakes (you can adjust depending on how spicy you like it!)
3 TBL olive oil, plus 1-2 teaspoons
1 medium onion, sliced
1 (8 ounce) package white button mushrooms, quartered
1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine (get something you like so you can have a glass with dinner!)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
¼ teaspoon dried oregano or other herb mix (I use a Tuscan herb mix I got from somewhere)
¼ cup chopped basil
¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1.Toss the shrimp in a medium bowl with 1 teaspoon of salt and red pepper flakes. I like to let this sit for 10-15 minutes (in the fridge) so the shrimp absorbs the flavors.
2.Heat 3 TBL olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and sauté until just pink, about a minute or two per side (If anything, you might want to let the shrimp be undercooked a little bit—you’ll add them back to the heat at the end and there is nothing worse that rubbery, overcooked shrimp!) Transfer the shrimp to a bowl or plate and set aside.
3.Add onion and mushrooms to the same pan (you may want to add some additional olive oil if the pan looks dry), sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.
4.Add orzo to a pot of boiling water and cook for 10-11 minutes (or as per the instructions on the package).
5.Add the tomatoes with their juices, wine, garlic, and oregano/dried herbs. Simmer until most of the liquid evaporates, about 12-15 minutes.
6.Drain orzo and set aside.
7.Add shrimp and any accumulated juices to the pan and cook for a minute or two until shrimp are heated through and flavors have had a chance to meld.
8.Stir in basil and parsley and check for seasonings.
9.Add drained orzo to the pan and combine.