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

Connie's Salad

The other day I bought fresh broccoli at the grocery.  For the stems.  LOL.  Now, you think you have proof that I've really lost my mind, don't you?

Until a few years ago, broccoli stems were cut off and tossed.  Then, broccoli slaw became popular.  I've been tossing the peeled and sliced stems into salads ever since I discovered how good they are - and how good FOR you they are. 

Our dinner menu was a meat, a salad and sweet potato.  I can't even remember what the meat was to be...  Ah, old age is a wonderful thing!  Connie said a salad and the entree would be enough for him.  I still wanted some sweet potato.  On top of that, I had some leftover broccoli stems to use up.  And, some canned whole beets.  And, some spiced pecans.  Now, in my opinion, blue cheese and beets are soul mates.  Rather like Connie and me :-) 

Fine then.  I'd make a salad and include sweet potato.  How to do so?  My mind immediately went to croutons.  How about shredding a third of the potato and frying it in some vegetable oil?  What's the worst that could happen?  It'd taste horrid.  I had a plan.

What did we think?  Connie says he has a new favorite salad.  I've opened another can of beets and bought broccoli for the stems.  And, we're working our way through the sweet potato.  We loved the combination of flavors and textures.  This is one we'll make regularly!

I didn't measure as I went but will give you a rough idea of what I did...

Connie's Salad

Ingredients:

shredded lettuce
sliced canned beets
peeled and sliced broccoli stems

crumbled blue cheese
spiced pecans
butter
Emeril's seasoning or other Cajun seasoning
brown sugar
fried sweet potato shreds
olive oil
red wine vinegar
mustard
finely minced shallot
sugar
salt
pepper

Directions:

Make the dressing first and set it aside. 

Whisk together about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil with a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, a heaping teaspoon of dijon mustard, a finely minced shallot and about a half a teaspoon of sugar.  Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Next, make the spiced pecans.  In a small skillet melt about a tablespoon of butter.  Add a handful of pecans and allow them to brown.  Toss in a couple of teaspoons of dark brown sugar and Emeril's seasoning.  Once the sugar has caramelized, remove the pecans frm the heat.  (Remember - these were leftovers so I don't have prep photos...)

Now, it's time to fry the sweet potato shreds.  In a small, sturdy saucepan, pour about 1/2" of vegetable oil.  Heat it until it's shimmering.  While it's heating, peel about a third of a large sweet potato and shred it on the large holes of a grater. 

I did not pat it dry in paper towels.  Once the oil is hot, add half the sweet potato shreds. 

Stir them occasionally and keep a REALLY good eye on them because they'll go from perfect to burned in a heartbeat!  You want to get them nice and brown and crispy.  Drain them on paper towels.  See the cool tool I scooped them with?  That's one of the things Mom didn't take along when she moved to her independent living apartment.  Lucky me!

It's finally time to assemble the salads:

Start with a big handful of lettuce. Top that with beets, broccoli stems and blue cheese.  Drizzle with the dressing.  Sprinkle over the spiced pecans then top with the sweet potato shreds. 

Beet Queen Salad

The end of the story is that the Bruins won the Stanley Cup.  Connie was the happiest I've seen him in a long time.  I was sleep deprived.  I'd just gotten to sleep when our neighbors called and said they'd found a cat.  Were we missing one?  Nope, George was asleep on my pillow and Gracie had meowed good night a bit earlier.  The FOB's (fat orange boys) were both happily ensconced in the screened porch.  So, the long and the short of this was that they've wanted a new kitty for a long time.  This stray is very friendly.  And, they were going out of town for a couple of days.  What to do?  I finally suggested that I had an extra litter box and plenty of dry cat food and I'd meet them at the end of the driveway.  By the time I got back inside I was wide awake.  So, I watched the end of the hockey game.  Ok, I'll grant that it's pretty exciting for a team to win the big one after 39 years of drought.  But, I really wanted to sleep.  Consequently, the next evening I wasn't into a big production for dinner.  Home late, eat quickly, go to bed.  Get up early for the staff meeting and a full day of meetings. 

We've made this once before and loved it.  The dressing wasn't quite as good as an orange vinaigrette I made a few weeks ago so I tweaked the recipe a bit this time.  And, since this was dinner, I added a pork tenderloin and a couple of slices of smoked bacon.  This is yet another recipe from Heartland.  I typically buy a cookbook and read it cover to cover.  Get a lot of ideas and a couple of recipes and move on.  There are very few exceptions to that rule.  This is one of them.  This is the best cookbook I've seen in a long time.  We've had five or six dishes from it and all of them have been either very good or excellent.  There are several more I'd like to try.  So, to all of my foodie friends who are much more judicious than I am about buying cookbooks, I highly recommend this!  It's just a wonderful cookbook. 

What did we think?  This is a twist on a cobb salad.  Meat, vegetables, cheese, bacon all over a bed of lettuce.  Fantastic.  Five out of five.  Neither of us could think of a thing we'd change.  I think this might even be doable in the middle of winter with canned peaches.  That's when one really needs a bit of sunshine!

Beet Queen Salad
serves 2

Ingredients:
fresh salad greens
2 large or 4 small beets, mixed colors are great if you can get them, 1/2" dice
2 peaches or nectarines, 1/2" dice
1/2 c smoked goat cheese (or regular is ok)
2 slices smoked bacon, chopped
1 pork tenderloin

for the dressing:
juice and zest of one orange
1 clove garlic, very finely minced
2 T fresh tarragon leaves
1 t tarragon vinegar
1 t soy sauce
1 t Dijon mustard
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

for the marinade:
1/4 c orange juice
2 T bourbon
1 T dijon mustard

Directions:

Mix the marinade ingredients and add in the pork tenderloin.  Allow it to marinate for about 15 minutes at room temperature.  While it's marinating, start the grill.  Then, place your salad greens on dinner plates.  Put the diced beets down one side of the greens and the diced nectarines down the other side.  Mix the salad dressing ingredients, except for the olive oil.  Whisk in the olive oil to make an emulsion.  Once your grill is good and hot, grill the tenderloin.  They cook really fast so you'll want to keep an eye on it.  We prefer our pork tenderloin medium rare so I no longer follow the instructions on the instant thermometer.  Once the tenderloin is grilled, let it rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute.  Slice it about 1/2" thick and lay those slices down the middle of the salad. 

Sprinkle the chopped bacon and smoked goat cheese over the salad.  Drizzle with the orange vinaigrette.

Sweet Potato Gratins and Beet Gratins

I waxed euphoric over the individual potato gratins.  Please, allow me to add sweet potatoes and beets to that list.  This is a recipe that has so many possibilities.

Here's a link to the original post:  Individual Potato Gratins. 

Basically, you slice red potatoes VERY thinly and layer them in muffin tins with salt, pepper, garlic and a bit of finely grated cheese.  Then, you top them with a tablespoon of cream and bake them.  They're beyond wonderful.  We've now had them at least four times...  Connie asks for them and he's not a huge fan of potatoes. 

Once we tried the individual potato gratins, Connie and I brainstormed.  Basic ingredients, liquid, cheese, seasonings...  Two of our top choices were beets and sweet potatoes.  Now, the problem with both of them is that they aren't typically a size that can be easily mandolined and fit into a muffin tin.  So, when we tried these I had a choice between cutting rounds that would fit and wasting a good bit of potato or beet OR cutting pieces and filling the muffin tins.  My Scotch heritage won out.  Go figure.  They still tasted fantastic.  They just didn't stand beautifully on their own once they were taken out of the muffin tins. 

How did we make them?  In both cases, we used blue cheese with cream.  I added some chopped walnuts to the beet gratins:

My guess is these will be great with a lower calorie option like chicken stock or a mix of chicken stock and some white wine.  I'm also dreaming up different combinations.  Like greek lemon potatoes.  Or, mediterranean with some kalamata olives.  I just bought a new bag of red potatoes so a remix is on the menu!

Beet the Dill

Remember when I had SO much dill in my CSA basket?  Me too.  I miss it.  Our dill is the only herb that did diddly squat this year.  Anything else, you can take a scissors out to the herb garden and cut whatever you need.  But not dill.  Nope.  Gotta use the dried stuff in the jar.  It's not bad because it's from Penzeys.  So at least it's very freshly dried.  Not much consolation in the middle of the summer when I should have FRESH dill.  Next year.  When Molly gave me this recipe and said she practically licked the plate I knew I had to make it even if all I had was the dried dill.  Now, Molly is far too much a lady to lick the plate so I knew the beets had to be pretty darned good.  They were.  I ran into a slight problem just as I was finishing up the recipe.  I couldn't find the cream so I had to use skimmed milk.  And, I'd double the dill. 

Dilly Beets

2 T butter
2 t flour
2 T vinegar
1 T sugar
1/4 t dill weed
freshly ground pepper
1/3 c sour cream
3 T light cream

 Melt the butter.  Add the flour and cook til bubbly.

Add vinegar , sugar, salt, dill and pepper.  Boil one minute
Add the sour cream and whisk it in.  Add the cream and the beets.