Scallops with Basil Cream, Farro with Swiss Chard and Hazelnuts and Buttered Beets with Pine Nuts

I cooked for three evenings straight and had a great time being home and getting to cook.  We'd been gone so much that I'd pretty much forgotten what my kitchen looked like.  About a month ago I started prepping for the two dinner parties.  Making lists of potential recipes.  Finding out what folks liked and didn't like.  Wednesday after work Connie headed to the grocery store and I headed to the kitchen.  And, proceeded to cook for almost three hours.  It was well worth the time and effort because we now have several new recipes that we'll make again.  A couple that will be go-to's. 

Wednesday evening was scallops with basil cream sauce.  Then, I had some Swiss chard in the front bed that I knew I needed to use.  (And, you can see the gorgeous lilies too!)

I found a recipe with farro and kale and figured the chard would be a perfect substitution.  The third dish was one that sold me on the cookbook - buttered beets with pine nuts.  We gave each and every dish a five.  The scallops were quick and easy and incredible.  Actually, the same description can be applied to the other two dishes.  Just amazing.

Thursday was catfish etouffee with a kale salad.  Both were good but not standouts like the night before. 

Then, Friday evening.  That was zesty hummus for an appetizer.  That's going to be a new family favorite.  It was so easy and so flavorful and SO beautiful.  Dinner was shrimp and mushrooms in a sherry cream sauce over Texas toast.  Alongside was a roasted carrot salad that was very complex and very tasty and a cucumber/beet/radish salad.  The cucumber salad was good but probably isn't one we'll make again.  If I'm going to have cucumber salad I want Christiane's cucumber/feta/herb salad.  It's killer.  I'll work on posting these recipes another day...

So, let's dig in on some recipes here:

Scallops with Cream and Basil
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

6 T butter
12 sea scallops
salt and pepper
1/4 c chopped shallots
1 t slivered garlic
pinch crushed red chile flakes
1/2 c dry white wine
3/4 c heavy cream
20 basil leaves, cut into ribbons

Directions:

In a large skillet, melt 4T of the butter.  When it's hot, add the scallops. Salt and pepper them to taste.  Brown both sides of the scallops.  Remove them from the heat before they've cooked through.  Wipe out the pan and add the other 2T of butter.  When it's melted, add the shallots,  Saute until they're softened.  Then, add the garlic and the chile flakes.  Cook that for about a minute and don't let the garlic get too brown.  Add in the white wine and cook over relatively high heat until it's reduced by half.  Then, add the cream and cook the sauce down until it's reduced by half.  Once that's done, add the scallops and pan juices back to the pan.  Add half the basil after about a minute.  When the scallops are just firm, you're ready to serve.  Top the scallops with the remaining basil as you serve them. 

adapted from the New York Times

Farro with Kale or Swiss Chard
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

1 c pearled farro
salt and pepper
3 T EVOO
1/4 lb pancetta or guanciale, chopped (I omitted this but would add it next time)
4 shallots or 1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch Tuscan kale or 1 bunch Swiss chard, stemmed and chopped (I thinly sliced the stems and sautéed them and added them in)
freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 c chicken stock
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 c chopped hazelnuts, toasted

Directions:

Cook the farro as per the package instructions.  Drain it and set the pan aside.  Pour the EVOO into a large skillet and add the pancetta.  Use medium heat.  Once the pancetta is lightly browned, add the shallots.  When those have softened, add the garlic.  Cook for a few minutes then add the kale or Swiss chard and let it wilt.  Stir in the chicken stock and the nutmeg, lower the heat and let it simmer until the greens are just softened.  Combine the greens, farro, lemon juice and hazelnuts to serve.

adapted from Rachael Ray


Buttered Beets w Pine Nuts
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

1 beet
butter
balsamic vinegar
pine nuts

Directions:

Peel and grate the beet on the large holes of your grater.  Brown the pine nuts in about a tablespoon of butter.  Spoon the pine nuts out of the butter and add the grated beets.  Cook for a few minutes until they're tender.  Add a dash (about a teaspoon) of the balsamic.  Serve topped with the pine nuts.

adapted from A Fresh Taste of Italy

New Years Eve 2013 cont...

Back to New Year's Eve and our favorite dish of the evening:  Truffled Scallops and Crabmeat with Caviar Vinaigrette.  Doesn't that just have you salivating?  It certainly had that effect on me when I read the recipe.  Commander's Wild Side has a chapter of "Showstopping Dishes to Impress Your Friends."  Yes, they are showstopping.  And, yes, this was over the top fabulous.

I've always loved seafood.  When I was little we'd eat Sunday brunch on occasion at the Marott.  It was quite the spread.  I clearly remember the all you can eat shrimp as I ate more than any five year old had a right to!  Then, I found crabmeat and lobster and scallops.  Oh, my.  My first experience with caviar wasn't quite as positive.  I was on a six week trip to Europe as part of a high school student ambassador program.  And, I was served caviar.  My reaction?  UGH!  Finally a few years ago I decided that relying on an ugh from so many years ago was just being a baby.  So, I started trying caviar in non-threatening ways.  Like sprinkled on sushi.  Or a bit on an appetizer.  If it was served to me, I ate it.  Still, I didn't have a spoonful.  So, this recipe was a bit of a stretch.  One I'm glad I made!  Then, there's truffle oil.  I'm not quite sure how I managed to avoid truffle oil for so many years.  Maybe it just wasn't available.  Suffice to say that it was love at first sip. 

What did we think?  The natural sweetness of the crabmeat is enhanced by the white wine. The beets are an amazing additon.  I served this on a bed of butter lettuce even though the recipe didn't call for any lettuce.  Then, I added both some of the leftover lobster and some sliced hearts of palm when this was served for dinner a couple of evenings later.  The second time around all we could find was golden beets.  They were equally good. 

This certainly is a special occasion dish.  Now, go find a special occasion to try it :-)

Truffled Scallops and Crabmeat with Caviar Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
serves 4

1 head butter lettuce
8 large dry-pack sea scallops, patted dry
1 1/2 t kosher salt or 1 t kosher salt + 1/2 t black truffle salt
1 t ground white pepper
4 T olive oil
1/2 c dry white wine
2 T minced shallots
2 T unsalted butter
8 oz jumbo lump crabmeat
1 T minced fresh chives
1 T cane vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 T truffle oil
2 t domestic caviar
2 large or 4 small roasted beets, peeled and sliced

Directions:

Rinse and spin dry the butter lettuce.  Divide it amongst four salad plates.  Salt and pepper the scallops.  Brown them on both sides in the olive oil, using a small skillet.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan or skillet.  Add the shallots and saute until they're softened.  Add the white wine and crab meat.  Saute until the liquid has almost totally evaporated.  Mix the chives, vinegar and truffle oil.  VERY gently stir in the caviar.

Top the lettuce with the sliced beets.  Top that with the scallops, then the crabmeat.  Drizzle the dressing over all.  Serve. 

Our entree was a repeat.  Not too long ago when we were visiting our kids on Cape Cod we made a stop at Salty Lou's and bought some lobsters.  And made Tarragon Lobster on the grill.  Yes, we've had it twice since then.  It's amazing. 

Now, our side dish sounded good.  In fact, it was the reason I'd bought the cookbook.  The title Commander's Wild Side sounded like it'd be all wild game and fish.  Nope.  But, I'd browsed the sides and fell in love with this dish.  Rightfully so.  It's a five.  We had leftovers for almost a week.  And, this was fabulous every time we had it.  Now, I will say that "cakes" was a major stretch for us.  Stuffing was more like it.  The "cakes" totally fell apart.  That's ok with me since the flavor was so delightful.  I did take a couple of liberties with the recipe.  Like the fact that I used canned artichoke hearts and added an additional 8 oz of mushrooms.

Wild Mushroom and Artichoke Stuffing

serves 8

Ingredients:

6 T unsalted butter
1 small leek, sliced thinly and rinsed well
1 T minced garlic
8 oz assorted wild mushrooms
8 oz cremini mushrooms
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
salt to taste
pepper to ta1/4 c brandy
1/2 c chicken stock
3 c cubed day-old French bread (1/2 - 3/4" cubes)
1 1/2 t minced fresh rosemary or half as much dried
1 1/2 t minced fresh thyme or half as much dried

Directions:

In a large skillet, saute the leeks and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of the butter for a couple of minutes.  Add the mushrooms and artichokes.  Saute them until they've given off their liquid and have softened.  You'll want them just a little browned.  Pour in the brandy.  Stir until it's evaporated.  Then, add the chicken stock.  Cook that until the stock has reduced by half.  Add the bread cubes and herbs.  Stir well.  Allow the mixture to sit for minutes.  At this point you can either make it into cakes and pan brown them or serve it as stuffing.  We tried the cakes and they totally fell apart so we went for the stuffing...


Well, friends, that's finally the end of our New Year's Eve.  Since then I've spent most of the time with a lovely cold.  And, we had about 175 people at our home for our annual party.  I'll work on the party and Secret Recipe Club next then hopefully get in some good basic recipes!

 

Morels

There's a teeny town about an hour west of Indianapolis by the name of Mansfield.  They're known for the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival and the Mansfield Mushroom Festival.   That's MOREL mushrooms.  For those of you who've never had the pleasure of eating a morel, I can tell you there's absolutely nothing like them.  The first time I had one in 2005, I was hooked.  Totally hooked.  They come out in April and are only available for a few weeks.  There are two kinds of morels - yellow and black.  The black have a more woodsy, pungent flavor.  The yellows are a bit more mellow.  They're both incredible.  One thing to note is that they should NOT be eaten raw.  Evidently that can lead to an upset tummy.  Not the result one wants from eating decadence. 

We started our adventure at the Keystone Deli.  It's a hole in the wall not too far from our home.  Breakfast is their specialty.  Several years ago the Indianapolis Star ran an article about them and for a year after there was a HUGE line.  Now, it's back to normal - the place is packed but you typically don't have to wait terribly long.  We both ordered the smokehouse breakfast.  Two eggs, basted, bacon, biscuits and gravy,  home fries, extra crispy.  The home fries went into a box and into the cooler in the trunk.  They'll be turned into blue cheese potato salad for lunch on Monday. 

Next stop - Goose the Market.  Goose is a butcher shop, deli, specialty market.  Chris Eley manages to make a pretty small space work quite well.  We wanted to use our gift card on a couple of steaks for our morel bash.  Into the cooler went the steaks along with four scallops for another meal. 

On the road to Mansfield.  It's about an hour and a half straight west of Indy.  We decided to go through town and see where we ended up.  I've been doing a lot of that recently.  Let's turn here and see where this road goes.  Amazing the things you discover when you're exploring your own city!  Once we hit the west side of Indy, we headed toward the most direct route to Mansfield.  The weather was chilly and rainy.  We really didn't notice.  It was so wonderful to not be in the office!

The morels are sold at auction.  That's the only way you can buy them in Mansfield.  Some friends wanted us to buy some for them too.  So we wound up with about five pounds of morels.  That's a lot of good eating there, my friends.  It's fun to watch the others at the auction.  Some of them come in to buy just a pound or two and others buy as many as we did. 

From Mansfield we decided to once again take the road less traveled.  We turned onto the county road and were greeted by a sign that said, "Dangerous curves next six miles."  Ok, we'd be able to drive slowly and enjoy the scenery.  And, odds were good we'd not have some idiot on our tail wanting us to go faster.  In fact for the entire six miles only one person came up behind us.  Connie pulled over and let him pass and we continued wending our way through the lovely woods and fields.

Next destination, Cox's Garden Center.  Great selection and great prices.  We bought flowers for Mom's pots and for ours.  And, we bought some more tomatoes and peppers and herbs for our garden.  Best of all, they had a scale we could use.  We weighed our mushroom haul :-)

The car was stuffed and we were tired puppies.  But, we still had four stops to make.  Back to Indy and north to Mom's.  A little bag of morels for her dinner.  Our reward was an ear to ear grin.  That was the best part of the day.  The big box of packing paper was dropped off as well as a flat of flowers.  Now, we had room to run to Trader Joes and Sams.  Mission accomplished.  One more stop.  Girls Night Out.  We'd planned on gettting back into town about 3:30 so we could empty the car and clean up and maybe rest a bit before meeting the GNO crew for dinner.  That didn't happen.  So, we stopped by and said hi to the crew and headed home for a nice, simple dinner.  We'd not been home for dinner for almost a week.  It was time.

Scallops with lemon caper sauce.  Sauteed morels.  Asparagus with citrus caper aioli.  And, mashed potato cakes.  Accompanied by a lovely bottle of Foghead Sauvignon Blanc. 

Let's start with the mashed potato cakes.  They started with about 2/3 of a cup of leftovers from a dinner out last week.  I mixed in a drizzle of white truffle oil, a bit of grated parmesan and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.  Then, I made pancakes out of them and smooshed those into a mixture of panko and grated parmesan.  The pancakes were then fried in a bit of olive oil.  They were wonderfully crispy and flavorful. 

On to the morels.  Butter.  The only way to go.  Just plain butter.  A lot of folks batter them then fry them.  Not us.  Just plain butter is perfect.

The scallops were magnificent.  The recipe came from a Rachael Ray magazine's quick section.  They were indeed quick.  If good scallops were more affordable, I'd have these regularly!

Last, but not least, the asparagus.  A recipe from one of my favorite chefs - Cat Cora.  This was published in Coastal Living.  I added a bit of orange juice to the aioli and wished I'd added more.  The citrus flavor was so delicate as to be barely discernable.  But, the sauce was still fabulous.  I didn't want to take the time to grill the asparagus as the recipe called for but will next time I make this. 

Ahhhh, a lovely day indeed.  Now, it's back to reality and the office...

Scallops with Lemon Caper Sauce

serves 4

Ingredients:
10 large scallops
1 lemon
5 T butter
1 T capers
2 T chopped parsley

Directions:

Prepare the lemon.  You'll want half of it peeled, seeded and sectioned then chopped.  The other half is juiced.  Pat the scallops dry.  Melt one tablespoon of butter in a skillet.  When the butter is hot, add the scallops. 

Cook 2-3 minutes per side.  You want to get them nice and brown but not overdone.  When the scallops are done remove them and keep them warm.  Add the rest of the butter to the skillet.  Get it nice and brown. 

Add the other ingredients and stir well. 

Serve the scallops with the sauce drizzled over them.

Asparagus with Citrus Caper Aioli

serves 4

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs asparagus
2 eggs
1 large garlic clove
1 T fresh lemon juice
2 1/4 c olive oil
1 t crushed red pepper flakes
1 T capers
1 t kosher salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In the bowl of a blender, add the egg, garlic and lemon.  Puree.  Slowly pour in the olive oil until it thickens.  Pour the aioli into a bowl

and add the capers and crushed red pepper.  Serve over grilled or steamed asparagus. 

Seafood and Seduction

New Year's Eve.  Seafood and seduction.  Connie's a New England boy.  He grew up downtown Boston.  As in right downtown.  By the Bunker Hill Monument.  He went to Boston Latin School.  Worked for the Bank of New England while he worked on his college degree.  Grew up on fresh seafood.  Needless to say, he doesn't find the same in Indianapolis.
 
We met in 2004 and pretty quickly we knew we were meant to be.  Pretty much love at first sight.  And, that's coming from a gal who'd been divorced for 26 years, had a successful business and really had no intention of ever getting married again.  He certainly changed my mind and I'm ever so glad he did!! 

Over the years, we've created some wonderful traditons.  Our New Year's Eve seafood fest is one of them.  That first year, we went to the now-defunct seafood shop across the street from my office.  What they had created the basis for our meal.  Escargot, bacon wrapped scallops, lobster tail, crab soup, crab cakes, shrimp.  We both got dressed up and I decorated the table.  It was incredibly romantic.  Each year we've done the same.  We've changed up the menu a bit each year.
 
Now, we start planning the menu about a month or two before New Year's Eve.  This year most of the inspiration came from Entertaining with Booze.  I know, we've talked before about the title.  Not terribly appetizing.  But the recipes?  Oh, la, la.  We've loved so many of the ones we've tried.

There was a bit of excitement as we started our dinner prep this year.  My beloved Indiana Hoosiers were playing Ohio State.  My stepson David's alma mater.  Here are my favorite screen shots:

You can probably read the second one with a magnifying glass...  It says the Hoosiers beat the number one and number two ranked teams in the same season for the first time ever.  All cooking stopped and breathless watching ensued.  The game wasn't decided until the last seconds.  Wow.  It feels like the old days.

This year we had a bit of a twist to our meal.  Leftover escargot.  Turns out the soup I fixed for New Years Eve Eve dinner with Mom needed a dozen escargot.  The can holds two dozen.  No way was I going to waste those!  I didn't tell Connie what I was doing and he didn't discover my plan until I was ready to put the escargot dishes in the oven.  The look on his face was fantastic.  Huge grin.  He practically did a happy dance.  Thanks to Jaden at Steamy Kitchen for the oven temp and the amount of butter to use.

Escargot

Ingredients:

12 escargot
4 T butter at room temp
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 T fresh flat leaf parsley, finely minced

Directions:

Mash the butter with the garlic and the parsley.  Divide it into 12 balls. 

Place your escargot either into the shells or escargot dishes (or both if you desire.) 

Put the butter on top of each.  Bake at 450 for five minutes.  Serve with sliced baguette.

As we cooked, we drank a bottle of Domaine ste Michelle Blanc de Noirs.  That was absolutely lovely bubbly.  We used the flutes my sister-in-law Pam gave me many years ago.  I love them not only because they're beautiful but because every time we use them I'm reminded of my wonderful sister-in-law.  I love you Pam!  Here's a photo of Connie in the mirror while we're toasting with our bubbly:

After escargot, it was on to cream of crab soup.  While hunting for a new she-crab soup recipe, I came across a cream of crab soup recipe in The Chesapeake Bay Crabbiest Cookbook.  It's one my dear friend Donna gave me.  She said she knew we'd get good use out of it and we have.  Once again, I used my great grandmother's soup bowls.  They're beautiful and a perfect serving size. Connie doesn't really like soup.  But, he loved this.  I did too.  It's VERY rich.  All of the flavors dance together in perfect harmony.  The recipe says it serves twelve.  I made a quarter of that and we had enough for at least six of our small servings. 

Crab House Cream of Crab Soup

Ingredients:

1 c half and half
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 T chicken base (I used Penzey's)
1 T dry sherry
pinch of pepper
1/4 t Old Bay seasoning
4 T butter
1/4 c flour
1/3 lb crabmeat

Directions:

Heat the half and half and cream in a large sauce pan.  Use low heat.  You don't want the soup to boil!  In a small skillet or sauce pan, melt the butter.  Stir in the flour and cook until it's lightly browned.  While that's cooking, whisk the soup base, sherry, Old Bay and pepper into the soup.  Once the flour is ready, pour about 1/4 c of the soup into the roux.  Whisk like crazy so it stays smooth.  Gradually add more soup then, pour the mixture into the soup saucepan.  Whisk to incorporate it.  Add the crabmeat and stir gently to incorporate it.  Heat the soup through and serve.  It may be served with additional sherry.  We chose not to do that.

While we ate our soup, shrimp flan baked away in the oven.  This was a recipe from Wine Mondays.  It was a bit different from our other dishes because of the flavor profile.  Most of our other recipes were dishes we'd had in one form or another.  And, the flavors weren't terribly bold - well, unless you count the GARLIC in the escargot :-)

We liked the shrimp flan but it's not something that I'll make again.  I'd be much more likely to take the marinade mix and grill the shrimp once they've spent their time in the marinade.  This recipe makes a six small appetizer servings.

Shrimp Flan

Ingredients:

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 garlic clove, minced
1 t pickled ginger
zest of 1/2 orange
zest of 1 lime
1 t fresh lemon juice
1/2 t ginger juice
1/4 c chopped scallions
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
3 T fresh cilantro, chopped
2 t salt
1 large egg, separated
2 T butter at room temp
3 T olive oil
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
4 T heavy cream

Directions:

Mix together the garlic, ginger, orange zest, lime zest, lemon juice, ginger juice, scallions, cayenne, nutmeg, cilantro and salt. 

Toss the shrimp with the marinade and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.  At the same time, put the bowl of your food processor in the freezer.  Lightly beat the egg white.  Put the egg white, egg yolk, cream, butter and olive oil in small bowls next to your food processor.  After the shrimp has marinated, put it in the processor and process until smooth.  Add the egg white, followed by the egg yolk then the butter, then the olive oil and finally the cream.  Butter 6 4 oz ramekins.  Pour the mixture into the ramekins.  The recipe calls for baking the ramekins in a bain marie with foil covering the tops of the ramekins.  I simply baked mine at 350 for 25 minutes.


After the flan we were on the Oysters Rockefeller.  Typically this dish has a topping of spinach and various green herbs.  This recipe didn't.  Connie tracked down fresh oysters at Fresh Market.  He watched a couple of You Tube videos on how to shuck them and started in.  Look how gorgeous they were! 

This recipe called for a very light herb topping.  We loved it.  The flavor of the oysters came through so much better than recipes with spinach.  We cut the recipe down to do 6 oysters but the recipe below is for 24.

Oysters Rockefeller

Ingredients:

6 green onions, chopped
3/4 c unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c Panko bread crumbs
1/4 c freshly grated Romano cheese
1/4 c fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 c fresh celery leaves, chopped
1 T fresh tarragon leaves
1 T fresh chervil leaves
2 T Pernod
dash hot pepper sauce
salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 lb rock or kosher salt
24 fresh oysters, shucked (be careful to reserve the liquor)

Directions:

Put the butter, green onions, breadcrumbs, Romano, parsley, chervil and Pernod in the bowl of a food processor.  Process the butter until it's blended but still has texture. 

Place the rock salt on a large rimmed baking dish.  Put the oysters on the rock salt, shell side down. 

Top each oyster with a dollop of the butter. 

Broil for five minutes.  You want the butter to melt and the edges of the oysters to curl.  Do NOT overcook these.


After the oysters we took a break and finished our bubbly and enjoyed the candlelight and each others company.  We also had a furry visitor.  Annie knows she's not allowed in the dining room when her humans are eating.  She's a wonderfully behaved pooch.  George on the other hand believes his humans are here to love a cat and take care of his every need.  He comes in and begs.  Since he's 17, I let him slide.

Then, it was time to fondue the scallops.  I'd had Connie pick up a few extra shrimp so we had those also.  The recipe actually calls for using the little bay scallops but Connie got his favorites so we were dealing with mongo sea scallops.

Since we had no sterno for our fondue pot, we "fondued" the seafood on the stove top then carried our plates to the table.  I'd intended to serve a garlic aioli with this but decided we were going to have enough food.  Then, when we sat down to eat our scallops I was very glad I'd not made the aioli.  The flavor was magnificent.  Very light and nuanced.  Aioli would've just covered it up.  This will be our go-to broth for seafood.  It's yet another recipe from Entertaining With Booze.  I think we're up to 15 recipes from that cookbook.  That's got to be a record for me since I normally make a few then am off to the next cookbook.  By the way - do you love the edges of the cookbook?

Seafood Fondue

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1 small onion minced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 c vegetable broth (we used vegetable stock)
2 c white wine - Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc
1/4 c brandy
1 bay leaf
1 T soy sauce
1 dash hot pepper sauce
1 T fresh tarragon, chopped
1 T fresh parsley, chopped
seafood:  lobster, shrimp, scallops, salmon...

Directions:

Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan.  Heat it to shimmering.  Add the onion and saute it until it's translucent.  Add the garlic and saute it for about a minute.  Add the other ingredients other than the tarragon, parsley and your seafood.  Allow the broth to come to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer it for thirty minutes.  Add the tarragon and parsley.  Pour the broth into your fondue pot and dig in with your seafood.  The recipe calls for serving with Bernaise sauce if you so desire.  I'd recommend trying this as is first.

Wow, by this time it was well after 10 pm.  We'd been cooking and eating since about 6 pm.  Two courses to go.  But, alas, we were too full to have dessert when the time came.  Even though we'd eaten tapas-sized servings we were stuffed!  That meant that we really were too full to thoroughly enjoy our last course.  We soldiered through though and did love this dish.  Yet another from Entertaining With Booze.  A couple of notes on the recipe.  We had a small wedge of brie left from earlier in the week.  It was about 4 oz.  We used that instead of a larger wedge.  We also used just half of a lobster tail and cut the rest of the recipe in half.

Baked Brie with Lobster, Mushrooms and Madeira

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb live lobster
2 lb wheel double cream brie
1 T butter
2 shallots, minced
1 c cremini mushrooms, chopped
1/4 c Madeira
1 baguette, thinly sliced

Directions:

Put the brie in a baking dish that's large enough to accomodate the cheese plus the topping. 

Heat your oven to 425.  Melt the butter in a medium skillet.  Add the onions and mushrooms and saute them until they're softened. 

Put the brie in the oven to bake for about 8 minutes.  Add the madeira and cook until it's reduced by half.  Chop the lobster meat and add it.

Heat the lobster through.  Pour the lobster sauce over the brie and serve on baguette slices.

Another wonderful New Year's Eve with the love of my life. 

Scallops with Brussels Sprouts

Scallops and Brussels sprouts.  I know, whoopee.   Well, let me tell you that sometimes first impressions are wrong.  VERY wrong.  This was a FIVE on our scale of one to five.  Hands down winner. 

A couple of weeks ago, I won a contest on Foodbuzz for a cookbook from a restaurant in Connecticut named Barcelona.  Elizabeth from EONYC had the contest.  She loves Barcelona and now I know why!!!  I found it pretty amusing because I love one in downtown Indy called Barcelona Tapas.  In fact, we're heading there in a week or so with some good friends.  It'll be Connie's first visit and my fifth - thanks to meeting clients there for lunch.

The cookbook arrived at the office and I snuck a peek.  Beautiful photography.  I snuck another peek at a couple of the recipes.  Pretty darned good.  That night, I took the cookbook home.  While dinner was cooking, I sat down in a chair (ok, the only chair one COULD sit down in since we'd had the carpets cleaned and all was total chaos) and started from the beginning.  I got to the part on the Spanish wines and knew Connie would be as fascinated as I was.  So, on went the sweatshirt and out to the porch went the cookbook.  He had the same reaction I had: We have to have a tapas party!!!!

One of the recipes stood out.  No, not because it sounded better than all the others, but because we happened to have all the ingredients. Including some wonderful little brussels sprouts from our garden.  Little is the operative word here.  The recipe called for tearing apart the brussels sprouts and browning the leaves.  Right, but not with these guys.  Guess, what?  They were still incredible.  The recipe also called for slab bacon cut into 1/2" dice.  I had our normal - Wright's Smoked Bacon.  It's thick cut bacon that we buy at Sam's Club.  I started buying it because a gal was standing in front of the bacon and said something to her sister, friend, whoever about picking up Wright's bacon.  Now, I'd talk to a rock.  So, I asked and she said Wright's is the best.  You know what, she's about Wright.  Ohhh, sorry for the pun.  I'm sure there are artisan bacons better.  But remember, this is pretty much budget stuff from Sam's.  I'm also trying to clean out the freezer for the big holiday party.  Two meals worth of scallops out there.  Score to use up half of them.  And, by the way, the recipe says to be sure to use the really good dry scallops.  I can guarantee that the scallops we buy at Sams are NOT the best kind.  So, I turned up the heat a bit and it pretty much caramelized all the liquid.  Now, the recipe called for cooking the bacon in butter and adding more butter to the almost finished dish.  Talk about gilding the lily.  There's plenty of fat from the bacon.  You really don't need any additional fat from butter.

What did we think?  Can I make this again right now and get back to you?  YUM!  If you love scallops, this is a must.  The sweetness of the scallops absolutely shines.  The brussels sprouts lose most of their musty flavor because of the scallops - well and the bacon and the white wine.  Ok, it all just plays together perfectly. 

Scallops with Brussels Sprouts

serves four

Ingredients:
1 cup Brussels Sprouts
12 giant scallops
1/4 pound bacon, chopped
2 shallots, diced
1 t chopped garlic
3/4 c dry white wine


Directions:
Trim the root end of the Brussels sprouts. 

Not exactly trimming the root end but aren't they the cutest little Brussels sprouts?

Boil the Brussels sprouts for about three minutes. 

Drain and  plunge into ice water.  Set the Brussels sprouts aside.  Once they're cool enough to handle, separate the leaves. 

Brown the bacon on medium heat.  Once the bacon has rendered its fat - about 5 minutes - add the scallops. 

Cook until they're nice and brown on the bottom.  You may need to turn up the heat to medium-high to accomplish this.  Flip the scallops.  Add the Brussels sprouts leaves, garlic and shallot to the pan. 

Stir to combine.  Remove the scallops to a warm pan.  Pour in the white wine and stir up the browned bits. 

Stir for about five minutes or until the wine has reduced by half.  Turn off the heat and add the scallops back into the pan. 

Toss to coat them then serve. 

adapted from Barcelona Cookbook