Tag Archives: wine

Top Scallop?

Scallops are one of our favorite foods to eat, but making them at home can be a little tricky. We have made many attempts at cooking them though and I think we got one step closer this time.We picked up some really nice looking scallops at Giant.

We prefer the bigger sea scallops rather than the smaller bay scallops.

They have an almost “meaty” texture. We seasoned these with salt and pepper.

We definitely have not yet mastered the searing technique for scallops!  But here we go…

Notice we used the all-clad pan, which is not teflon, and no oil…

We wanted some stickage in order to get the rough seared exterior, but this did not quite work out the way we wanted…

Rest assured, the pan was just fine (after a wine de-glazing) and the scallops still tasted great, they just were not the right texture. We don’t know why we can’t sear scallops! Should we have added oil to the pan? Did we not flip them soon enough? Was the pan too hot? So many questions…

Anyway- as I said, they still tasted really good. I sauteed some spinach and placed this on the plate (er, small bowl) for the base.

Then placed the scallops on top— kinda seared actually!

The sauce we made was a white wine butter sauce with lemon and garlic and red pepper flakes, of course.

We topped it with green onion.

All in all, they came out tasting pretty good. It’s tough to really infuse scallops with much flavor, which is why I like to serve them atop the spinach, which tends to absorb some of the sauce so you can get some really tasty bites!

Recipe for Seared  Scallops in White Wine Sauce

Advertisement

Pork Chops Marsala

SnOMG, Snowmeggedon, Snowpacolypse, SuperStorm ’10, etc etc etc! Whatever you want to call it, it came, it conquered, and it’s little brother is on it’s way tonight to provide another 10-15 inches. Just what the region needs! I am a little behind on posts so here we go with the first since the onset of the mega snowstorm.

These pictures were from 4pm on Friday.

So for dinner we decided to make pork chops Marsala (a play on veal Marsala). This complimented the weather nicely, as the sauce came out thick and rich. Also, this recipe is relatively easy and doesn’t take too long to make.

First, we dredged the pork chops in flour, a step that can be omitted if trying to go low-carb. I like to use bone-in pork chops for the extra flavor the bone provides. Don’t be scurred of the bones!

Next, we sauteed the pork chops…

…and put them aside to make the sauce.

The sauce ingredients include mushrooms, onions, garlic, and Marsala wine to name a few. They actually sell Marsala wine at the grocery store, so no special trip to the wine store is needed (although if you are on your way there already they probably have it there as well!).  We also had some leftover thyme so we threw that in and it worked really well too.

We used “baby bellas” (pre-sliced) for this dish. Any mushrooms on hand will do.

We were happy with the way it turned out, although an afterthought was to add lemon juice to the sauce. This would have been a great way to break down the sauce a little and add some acidity to it.  Next time, we will definitely add lemon juice!

Even though having cabin fever would be physically impossible at this juncture because we just got home hours earlier, maybe the thought of being stuck in the house for the next several days was the catalyst for this bout.

Recipe for Pork Chops Marsala

Bogie lost this match, but many more will likely be fought… keep your head up buddy!