Seared Scallops with Multi-Grain Couscous

The scallops were simply seared, a little olive oil and butter and salt and pepper. The couscous was the Giada recipe I've been loving but using Trader Joe's Harvest Grains blend, which combines pearl couscous with red and green orzo, tiny dried chickpeas, and red quinoa. Because I was impatient, the salad was served warm, which made it yummy, almost risotto-y.
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Christmas Feast

For Christmas this year, unlike with Thanksgiving, I did try not go overboard. Not sure if I succeeded, but either way, we ate very well. After a few nibbles of chocolate from our stockings, we had brunch with my Mom's Famous Christmas Bread (aka stollen), scrambled eggs, fresh berry salad, cheese, oven-baked bacon, and grapefruit.


For dinner we had shrimp scampi, roasted potato stacks, green beans, roasted butternut squash, and challah rolls.








And the vegetarians had roast beast:


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Fish Tacos

Flour tortillas filled with grilled halibut, grilled onions and peppers, lots of avocado, salsa, romaine lettuce and cilantro. Happy Cinco de Mayo! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Vacation Food

(go on, click ... you know you want to) I think seafood is obligatory in New England, if'n you're not a vegetarian, that is. And I'm not. I just returned from a few days in Maine, where we had some of the best lobsta rolls evah. Go to Tubby's, avail yourself of New England's Best Ice Cream, and pick up a large, made-on-the-spot lobster roll that contains no added nothing, just the way it should be. It was so good we had to have another one the next night. Having more time and inclination, we had a little more to go with our dinner that night: lobster rolls, tomatoes with fresh feta, and local green beans. One night I even cooked: shrimp and huge sea scallops with fresh tomatoes, onions, and a little smoked mozzarella, with local green beans on the side. Theme and variation yes, but so good. Happy Birthday to my mom! A belated celebration with lots of yummy cupcakes and fresh raspberries. We ended up quartering them so we could all taste all of them. A quiet celebration on the actual night, with just the two of us but three of Tubby's fabulous flavors: peanut butter (which we both loved), coffee chip, and the requisite black raspberry.

Maryland Is for Crab Cakes

Some people like to have lots of stuff in their crab cakes, but here, as with lobster rolls, less is more. These do have flecks of red and yellow bell peppers, but other than that there's just crab meat, eggs, a little mayo, Old Bay, and some salt and pepper.

Seafood Pizza

Pizza may never be the same. This first pizza is topped with shrimp and scallops, on top of creamy base, along with lots of basil and cilantro. For the sauce, I made a bechamel and then added some sherry, smoked hot paprika, tomato paste, and parmesan cheese. The whole thing was topped with mozzarella -- the regular kind, not the fresh kind, which can be watery.

The second pizza uses the same creamy base, but it is topped with an aged jambon, quartered grape tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. Both pizzas were very, very good.

Summer rolls in spring

Saturday was sticky and hot, and I couldn't think of turning on the oven or stove for very long. So instead I made Vietnamese summer rolls, using rice paper wrappers, translucent mung bean noodles (didn't have any rice vermicelli), and shrimp for the carnivores and sesame peanut tofu for the vegetarians. I did all the prep work and wrapper cooking, while my assistant, aka Swimmer Girl, did all the filling and rolling--she did a great job, and the rolls, dipped in peanut sauce, tasted delicious. We served them with a simple salad of mixed greens, champagne mangoes, and peanut dressing.

Red curry with shrimp

The other night I made a Thai red curry with shrimp and loads of vegetables. Kinda looks like a million shrimp, doesn't it? I think they all swam to the top to get in the picture, though it's possible that not everyone wants as many shrimp as we do, too. Curry is so quick and easy, but I forget about it sometimes. Combine a few spoonfuls of red curry paste in about half a can of coconut milk. Once they are combined, stir in a spoonful of brown sugar and then the rest of the coconut milk. Add the carrots, since they take a while to cook, then bring the mixture up to a boil, and then let it simmer on low for about 15 min. At the very end, add the rest of the veggies and the shrimp, and cook it all til the shrimp are just cooked through. Serve with rice. I also made a vegetarian version with tofu instead of shrimp.

And now the veggies...

Jambalaya!

A quick jambalaya from Martha's February issue. I used chicken andouille instead of pork, and I added shrimp because they taste good. We inhaled this for dinner, lunch the next day, and dinner again on the following day.

Lobsta. Each was about 1.5 lbs and delicious. Pic ganked from a couple of years ago, as this year's critters were eaten too quickly to be photographed. Served with melted butter and/or vinegar, along side green beans and corn on the cob.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Shrimp fra diavolo