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Seafood

Scallops and Pasta

Jul 28th, 2010
by dave.
1 comment

Scallops and Pasta

Generally, mealplanning is a great thing. You know exactly what you need at the grocery store and there’s usually few “surprise, I need to figure out what to eat today” moments. Well, in theory anyway.

I did my planning a couple weeks ago knowing that I’d be on vacation (more about this when I finish processing the photos), that is, making sure I use up all the perishable stuff and leave a semi-bare fridge so nothing goes to waste. All this is good, in theory. But then when you realize that due to some extreme human error (read: lunacy) you forgot a couple days (How does that happen? I mean, where do the days go? It’s not like the number of days changes every week) well, let’s just say one night I ended up eating rice and soy sauce. And a few frozen dumplings. Whoops =P

For the most part, I cook based on what ingredients are on sale each week and this recipe is no different. I found sea scallops for a great price and picked up a dozen or so. Over at Tasty Kitchen, I had a recipe for Scallops and Pasta by Jaden of SteamyKitchen bookmarked for a while and figured I’d give it a shot. I love scallops, I love pasta, what other excuse did I need? =P

I was just using a frying pan so I didn’t quite get the sear I liked but the dish was tasty nonetheless.

Scallops and Pasta

Time : 20 minutes
Serves 2

Recipe adapted from Jaden’s (of Steamy Kitchen) post on Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:
- 8oz of pasta (I used linguini
- 12 Sea Scallops
- 1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup white wine (I used a Chardonnay)
- 1 – 2 tbsp fresh Italian Parsley, minced
- Half a lemon’s juice
- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat water in a large stock pot with a generous amount of salt. Cook pasta until just al dente (it’ll cook more in the pan later)
2. Wash and dry scallops, season lightly with salt, pepper, and olive oil
3. Heat a large frying pan over high heat. When really hot, add the olive oil. Add the scallops to the pan and spread them out evenly for proper searing. Cook for 2 minutes undisturbed then flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes until cooked to satisfaction. Remove and set aside.
4. Turn heat to low. Add the butter and garlic. Saute for 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes.
5. Turn the heat to high and add in the white wine. Let it bubble a bit for 30 seconds and scrape up the stuck bits in the pan. Season with salt and pepper, add in the parsley and then add in the pasta. Mix well and then serve, placing the scallops on top.

Pad Thai with Chicken and Shrimp

May 19th, 2010
by dave.
4 comments

Pad Thai 3

Every once in a while, lightning strikes and I have one of those “Eureka!” moments. Sadly, I can’t say this involves a time machine or some incredibly super-duper scientific discovery like anti-matter or anything. I mean, anti-matter would be awesome wouldn’t it? Then there could be stuff like this! (facepalm)

This epiphany, if you will, involves food (of course it does).

Pad Thai’s been one of those dishes I could NEVER get right. After a dozen failures (miserable at that, they were all barely edible), I stumbled on an old post on Use Real Butter which opened my eyes. And after consulting a link at Chez Pim, I knew I was set. Not an hour later (I immediately ran off to the store and had to cook this), I had a nice steaming plate of noodles and devoured it without hesitation. The first portion was only ok, the next was much better (the secret is in the sauce!) and within two weeks, I probably cooked it 4 times.

What was wrong with what I was doing before? Turns out one of the most important techniques is incredibly simple. Cook small portions at a time, preferably individual servings if you can! Why? It’s easier to manipulate everything as a whole and being able to move ingredients around the pan/wok really helps when trying to mix things together and also when cracking in the egg. That, and with the dish taking 2-3 minutes of actual cooking time, you can still churn servings out at a good clip.

A word of caution though, this is by no means healthy food. I had to use a lot of oil to avoid too much sticking and that may be a little excessive but it does get the job done.

Recipe adapted from Use Real Butter and Chez Pim.

Pad Thai w/ Chicken and Shrimp

Serves 4
Time : 45 minutes (mostly prep time)

Ingredients:
– 1 lb rice noodles, just undercooked per packaging directions
– 1/2 – 3/4 lb chicken breast, thinly sliced
– 12 medium shrimp (maybe 1/2 lb at the most), peeled deveined (tails ok)
– 4 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 – 2 tbsp salted turnips, minced
– 2 tbsp chives, chopped
– Generous handful of bean sprouts
– 2 – 3 oz firm pressed tofu, sliced
– 4 eggs
– 1 lime, wedged
– Handful of crushed peanuts

Sauce:
– 1/2 cup Tamarind paste
– 1/2 cup Fish sauce
– 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
– 1 tbsp+ Chili Powder

Method:
Prepare EVERYTHING beforehand. Have everything within an arm-length of the stove, pad thai is cooked quickly and you don’t want to waste precious seconds fumbling around for things. Separate the noodles into 4 portions (this is key since the noodles stick together and again, you don’t want to waste time pulling the noodles apart!)
1. Combine the sauce together in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Fill a medium saucepan with water (could be the water you cooked the noodles in) and leave simmering on the side. You’ll be using this to quickly dunk the noodles before adding them to the frying pan (If the noodles are piping hot when you start cooking you may not need to do this.
3. Heat a frying/pan over high heat with enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Add a quarter-portion of sliced chicken (2-3oz) and a portion of the shrimp (4 shrimp). Let it cook undisturbed for about 15-20 seconds, then turn and cook another 15-20 seconds.
5. Add 1-2 tbsp of the sauce and a portion of garlic, quickly stir everything together.
6. Dunk a portion of the rice noodles in water, drain and add to the frying pan along with 1/4 cup of the sauce. Mix well to combine.
7. Push the noodles to one end of the pan and crack 1 egg on the other side. Let the egg cook for 10 seconds undisturbed and then use the spatula to break it apart and mix with the noodles.
8. Add a portion of salted turnip, tofu, bean sprouts, and chives in. Stir and toss for another 30 seconds to a minute and plate immediately.
9. Serve with lime wedges, crushed peanuts, and extra chili powder.

NOTE : If done right, you should not need to scrub the pan between portions. Took me a couple tries to get this down.

Hotate Hokkaiyaki (Baked Scallops in Spicy Mayo)

Oct 7th, 2009
by dave.
No comments yet

Hotate Hokkaiyaki

Everytime I’m in a Japanese restaurant, I absolutely crave this stuff. Really. I get it every time…provided they have it. And if they don’t, I ask. Trust me, I’ve embarrassed myself a couple time doing this already =P

But anyway, I’ve never figured out how to make it. And lacking good resources online and in the two cookbooks I have, I was forced to improvise. And if you know me, that’s never a good thing ; I’m no good at balancing ingredients together. So off I went, with the bare minimum of ingredients, hoping for the best.

And wow, it actually turned out alright! A bit spicy, which was great but it definitely had evidence of the flavor I crave. I bet there’s more mayo but I can’t bring myself to use more than I have already.

Hotate Hokkaiyaki

Serves 4 as an appetizer
Time : 20 minutes

Ingredients:
- 6 Sea Scallops, sliced
- 12-18 Crab Sticks (Kani) – Pulled apart
- 4 tbsp Flying Fish Roe
- 6 tbsp Japanese Mayo
- Generous squeeze Sriracha
- Optional : Sliced up Enoki mushrooms

Method:
1. Mix everything but the scallops together in a bowl. Taste and adjust flavor as necessary.
2. Add scallops, mix again, then set in a bakeable dish.
3. Bake for 10 minutes at 475 or until done.

Hotate Hokkaiyaki

Linguine with Clams

Sep 2nd, 2009
by dave.
2 comments

Linguini w/ Clams

Last week, the roommate picked up 200 clams from a wholesaler on the waterfront for a BBQ. We ended up eating a little over half of them, leaving clams as this week’s special cooking ingredient!

This time, decided to go with something more Western, Italian in fact (Been cooking a ton of Asian food lately). I’ve got this big Italian cookbook, the Silver Spoon, which is supposed to be one of the best Italian cookbooks one can find. But I’ve only cooked 3-4 different things from it, lame right? So I figured now would be a good time to try another recipe.

So I jotted down this recipe and consulted with a reliable source, the Internet, to come up with a recipe I liked. Most recipes used a little too much butter for my liking so I cut that down and also added something I saw from Mario Batali’s recipe, pancetta! Now, I’m not one of those guys that always thinks adding things like bacon and other meats to an otherwise meat-less dish always makes it better, but in all honesty, pancetta sounded absolutely delicious and I thought it’d add a new dimension to the dish’s flavor.

I ended up using Colavita linguine but in all honesty, use whatever pasta you like best (I made this another time with Stop&Shop brand linguine =P) I wish I had time to run to Dave’s to pick up some fresh pasta but alas, I was already tired from running around all day and didn’t feel like trekking out to Somerville just for linguine. Maybe they should just open another store next door!

For the white wine, I used a chardonnay from Roche Winery, one of the many keepsakes from my visit to the West Coast.

Linguine with Clams

Time : 45 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
- 1 pound linguine
- 1/2 medium red onion, minced
- 1/4 pound pancetta, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 pounds clams, scrubbed and rinsed
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Method
1. Bring six quarts of water to boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.
2. In a large sauté pan, sauté red onion, pancetta and garlic over medium heat until onion is very soft and pancetta is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add red pepper flakes, clams, white wine and butter and bring to a boil. Cook until all clams have opened, and then set aside.
3. Boil the linguine in the prepared stock pot. While softened but still firm, drain and toss into pan with clams and stir gently to mix. Add chopped parsley and serve.

Notes:
Adapted from the Silver Spoon and Mario Batali’s Recipe
The pancetta can be removed if you like

Seafood Fra Diavolo

Jun 17th, 2009
by dave.
No comments yet

Seafood Fra Diavolo

This is kind of another one of those “cheater” recipes. Meaning I bought one of the ingredients pre-made, the sauce in fact. But that’s not too terrible I suppose.

Since starting my “healthier” diet 3 weeks ago, I’d been trying to eat fish at least once a week and other seafood at least once a week. This time, I put both together and got my fish/seafood allocation in one dish! It’d been a while since I had sea scallops as I was holding out, hoping they’d be on sale (they’re normally a little bit pricey). But the craving surfaced and I picked some up along with a little bit of cod that was on sale to put this all together.

The arrabiata sauce is from Dave’s Fresh Pasta once again. They recently expanded into another store about two months ago, becoming almost a one-stop shop for most cooking needs. More notably, there’s an expanded wine section, produce section, and meat/fish section. But I stuck with the bread and butter so to speak…sauce and pasta (Used the pasta in a different dish, to be posted at another time).

Seafood Fra Diavolo

Serves 4
Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients
- 1/2 lb sea scallops, halved
- 1/2 lb firm fish fillet, sliced
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 24oz (Roughly) Arrabiata Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 pound spaghetti (Used Bucatini)

Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, medium high heat.
2. Add the garlic, give it a swirl, and add the onion about a minute later, saute until onion starts to soften slightly.
3. Add the sea scallops, give them about a minute or so to start cooking through, then add the fish. Be careful not to stir the fish too much, it WILL break apart on you.
4. As the fish starts to cook, pour the arrabiata sauce into the pan, let settle. Bring the pan to a simmer, carefully use a spatula to turn the fish if necessary.
5. Serve over pasta

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