The leaning Mexican Scallop "tower"

I decided to have a little fun with an appetizer here and built out a Mexican themed scallop stack.  This was the day after I had made our last Mexican themed night so I still had a bit of Pico and limes left as well as some tortillas.

The concept here was pretty simple, U-10 scallop + tasty accompaniments.  I sliced the scallop in half and then pan seared it (about 15 seconds per side) until just cooked and still a little clear in the very center.  I then built the dish starting with a slice of avocado followed by tortilla, scallop, tortilla and scallop.  I topped off the "tower" with some fresh Pico de Gallo.  I finished the plating with a bit of charred long hot pepper, a lime slice, and Valentina hot sauce.

Try it and enjoy!

Stone Crab is a great crab!

Wandering around the seafood section in Whole Foods the other day, I noticed something that I don't see there very often ... Stone Crab Claws!  I love stone crab claws because they have a great meat to weight ratio.  The only downside to them is that they require a little force to crack ... luckily a metal meat tenderizer will do the trick nicely.  Now, I didn't want to make stone crab the entire dinner so I grabbed a couple of U10 scallops and shrimp as well.

I cooked my crustacean feast on the grill and then served it with baked potato chips and sautéed kale topped off with a poblano and queso fresco cream sauce.

There's a reason that everyone prefers to eat at an Italian Grandmother's house!

There's just something about Italian food that makes you feel all warm and happy inside.  Movies will tell you that for Italian chef's "food is love" or that you should "never trust a skinny Italian chef" ... I don't know about all of that, but I do know that when it was cold outside the other day I knew that only a nice filled pasta dish would do.

I thought about stuffing the pasta with the scallops I served for this meal, as well as the other fillings, but figured that might be over-kill for the simple, and classic, taste that I was going for.  The scallops therefore were relegated to the side!

For the filling I started with the traditional cheese base, ricotta, and then decided to add a non-traditional kale to the garlic and peppers.

Kale & Pepper Stuffed Manicotti
6 pieces dried manicotti pasta (cook in salted, boiling water, for 7 minutes then cool on a rack before stuffing)
2 bunches kale
1 large yellow bell pepper
3 cloves of garlic (feel free to add as much more as you'd like)
2 cups ricotta cheese
2-3 cups of pasta sauce (red sauce or vodka sauce; may not use it all)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Cook your kale however you prefer, I sauteed/steamed in a large saute pan to allow it to cook down (steamed) then ultimately removed most of the liquid via sauteing.  I diced it and then transferred to a large bowl to cool.  I then diced the pepper and the garlic and sauteed them until the pepper was just soft and then added to the kale.

Once the veggies had cooled to room temperature I added the ricotta and stirred until it was well mixed.  I then stuffed the manicotti with the mixture (don't worry if you have a little filling left over, it will be great in an omlette the next morning) and put them in a single layer in a baking dish.  I covered the manicotti with the sauce (I used vodka sauce for this dish), topped with a little shredded parmesan cheese and then popped it into the oven for about 25 minutes.  Once cooked remove and serve with a spatula, enjoy!

Fancy Mexican Food ... just the thing for one day home in two weeks!

Knowing that I'd be coming home for basically just long enough to shove the contents of my suitcase into the washing machine and then repack ... I wanted something fun for Saturday night dinner.  I also needed to bribe Shells on the laundry aspect since I hadn't been home to cook for two weeks.

I had just eaten some tasty Mexican food in Houston and it had made me want to experiment with a couple of things.  Shells wasn't going to argue, even though I refused to share the menu ahead of time.

For the first course I made a style of "Taco Shop" guacamole which is a mix of tomatillos and avocados with jalapenos, lime juice and cilantro.  I served it with a quesadilla for dipping, but I kept the bowl of guacamole full for each of us all night.

For the next tasting component I served blistered shishito peppers with corse sea salt.  These peppers are a great tasting, mild pepper (I've heard 1 in 10 is hit, but I think it's less than that).

For this next course sauteed a U-10 sea scallop that had been sliced into three even slices.  In between the first two slices I served a thin slice of avocado, in between the second and third was a slice of Cotija cheese that had been lightly grilled.  A splash of "Taco Shop" guac finished off the plate.

For this course I used some extra scallops I had from the prior course and some shrimp that I would be using for the next course to make a quesadilla filling.  I used Oaxaca melting quesadilla cheese as the filler and plated with some thin tomatillo and jalapeno slices.

For the shrimp course (and second to last course in the dinner) I made a slow cooked poblano cream sauce that I served over sauteed shrimp and then topped with queso fresco.

Poblano Cream Sauce
3 poblano peppers
1 cup cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1 Tbsp Oaxaca cheese

Roast the Poblano peppers at 375F until soft and the edges are well browned.  Chop the poblanos into thin strips that are about 1/4" in width and 3/4" in length.  Add them to the cream and whole milk and cook in a heavy pan on the lowest temperature setting.  Allow the mixture to cook for at least 30 minutes (preferably more), whisking occasionally to help it thicken.  Immediately before serving add the cheese and whisk well to mix.

The final course was a take on a dish I have made many times, arrachera.  For this rendition I used a USDA Prime New York strip and marinated it for a short 3 hours in the black pepper and Jugo Magi mix before grilling it.  I cooked it to a nice rare and served it sliced, family style, on a single platter.  Hope this dish brings you some inspiration to try something fun and enjoy!

Scallops with a spicy polenta

Anyone who has been reading this blog for a bit is surely starting to think that we have an infatuation with scallops ... my question back would be: why don't you?

That being said, sometimes just cooking some scallops over pasta gets a little boring, so for this dinner we were looking to spice it up.  I decided to whip up a batch of polenta and make that the flavor base for this dish by adding some heat to it.

Spicy Polenta
1 cup yellow corn grits (not instant)
6 cups water
1/4 cup of diced green chilies (canned, found in the Mexican food section of your grocer)
1 jalapeno
1/2 tsp garlic pepper
1 tbsp whole milk
2 tbsp grated asiago cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil and add grits.  Turn down heat to a simmer and continue to stir grits with a whisk frequently (to keep from sticking and burning) for about 30 minutes.  While this is going on, drain the green chilis and dice the jalapeno (deseeded if you would like less heat).  After the 30 minutes add the chilies, jalapeno and garlic pepper and continue to stir occasionally to allow the polenta to thicken (about 15-20 minutes).  After the polenta has thickened, remove from heat, stir in the milk and cheese and any salt and pepper you want to add, serve and enjoy!