My Secret Scallop

SLD is excited to welcome Guest Dish Kristin Fritz, culinary enthusiast and editor of the the terrific woman-to-woman website wowOwow!

What is a scallop anyway? A mollusk, a symbol of fertility and the state shell of ol’ New York. To me, though, it’s always been a special treat – something my mom would make for the two of us in a years-old small, white baking dish – to sit alongside the fried flounder that appeased my brothers’ pickier adolescent palates. The odd-looking scallops were delicious – and we kept this our little secret.

Ingredients (for two people):

8-10 good-sized fresh sea scallops
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp of garlic salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 lemon

Heat up your broiler. Place the scallops in a baking dish that’s been misted with a little nonstick spray. Using the back of a spoon, swipe the top of each scallop with the melted butter. Then, squeeze the juice from about half a lemon over the top. Finally, lightly sprinkle garlic salt over the top of the scallops and follow this with a light sprinkle of paprika (though if you don’t like paprika, skip this part). Place the scallops under the broiler. I broil the scallops for 10 – 12 minutes, but I like them completely opaque. If you like yours a little rarer, stop at about 8 – 9 minutes.

There’s little I don’t think is a good accompaniment to broiled scallops, but for now let’s go with another of my favorites – asparagus. You can always steam your asparagus and toss it with a generous amount of lemon juice, salt and pepper, but I want a touch of crispy cheese with my dinner (obviously).

1 big bunch of asparagus with the hard ends snapped off, washed
2 tsps olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1/8 – 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the asparagus with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread it all out into one layer. Broil for 8 minutes, turning the asparagus (asparagi?) over once about halfway through. Carefully pull the dish out of the broiler and sprinkle the cheese over the top of the spread. Place it all back under the broiler and leave for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese on top is slightly browned.
I
f you’re desperate for a carb, a steamed red potato with a pat of butter or a dollop of sour cream goes great with this. Oh, and the bonus value of this meal? No need to keep an oven going for eons on a hot summer night!

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Spaghetti alla Checca

From Dish Jodi:

I arrive home late last night after a week in New York (home of all my other Dishes!) for work. Was a great week, productive for my job, but full of good meals and good friends. This morning, after a night of dreaming of lunch at Lupa and dinner at Rye in Williamsburg with Dish Rachelle, I awoke to face the good and bad reminders of my life in LA.

The bad – the commute to work, in my car. Man how life and my literature consumption would be different with public transportation.

But the good – the discovery that my roma tomato plant went gangbusters while I was gone…giving me so many glossy juicy fruits to gleefully pluck. And my insane basil bush that I can never tame was of course going insane. So, still jet lagged, and home alone, I did a fridge and garden clean-out meal…which i share here:

Ingredients:

A handful of angel hair pasta
1 shallot sliced
3 big cloves of garlic
a few slices of prosciutto
4 good sized roma tomatoes, cubed
a handful of basil, roughly chopped
a half cup of fresh mozzerella
Olive oil

Fill a pan with olive oil and start to crisp up your proscuitto, add your garlic and saute until toasty (I like a toasty taste to go along with the fresh flavors.)

Meanwhile, toss the pasta in salted boiling water and cook as directed.

Toss in the shallot, give it a little head start, then toss in tomatoes, give THEM a little cook for about a minute. Then turn off the heat.

When the pasta is done, toss it, the basil and mozzarella together and serve. Fresh and yummy.

Get ready for lots o’ tomatoes this summer.

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Escarole and Bean Soup

From Dish Erin:

This is one of my favorite meals in the world. It’s hearty, low-fat, supremely nutritious…and it’s SIMPLE and CHEAP. If you have the staples, this will cost you about 3 bucks to make. It’s my go-to dish when I don’t feel like cooking much, when I’m sick, when I’m broke, when I’m cranky. It’s a traditional Italian peasant dish and it comes out a little different every time I make it, which is one of my favorite little quirks about cooking. You can surprise yourself. Sometimes it’s spicier, sometimes I add more beans, sometimes I add little elbow pasta or barley. And on occasion, I skip the whole ‘soup’ part, add only a touch of chicken stock and use it as a side dish for chicken or fish. It’s comfort food at it’s finest.

Side note: I use a fabulous flavor trick for this recipe that I highly recommend for soups, but is not crucial. Slice off the rind of a Parmesan cheese hunk and throw it in the soup while it simmers. Yes, the part you usually throw away. It’s totally edible and thickens, salts and gives depth of flavor to the whole pot. I wish I didn’t have to admit that I learned it from Rachael Ray, because frankly, she irks me. But it’s a damn good chef’s secret.

Ingredients:

1 large head of fresh escarole
Olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
4 cups low sodium chicken stock
1 can of white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Rind of Parmesan cheese
Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

1. Wash the escarole and discard the fibrous bottom and any hard internal leaves. Chop it roughly into 2 inch pieces. It doesn’t have to be pretty.

2. Coat the bottom of a dutch oven or a pot with a generous amount of olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Saute the onions, garlic, and red pepper until the onions are translucent.

3. Add the escarole, a stir to coat, until the escarole wilts and turns a dark green color.

4. Add the chicken stock, 1/2 the can of beans, Parmesan rind (if using), and a few grinds of pepper. Cover and let it cook for about 12 minutes.

5. Throw in the rest of the beans and taste. I don’t like to salt this dish until this point because between the beans, stock and the Parmesan, it does a pretty good job of salting itself. You decide if you want more. Then cook a bit more, just to heat the rest of the beans up, another 2-3 minutes.

6. Serve in bowls with a heaping of Parmesan cheese on top and a nice crusty loaf of bread.

7. Put your spoon on your nose and make funny faces.

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