Seared Scallops with Blood Orange Gastrique

I found some beautiful blood oranges at the market the other day, and wanted to find a fun way to use them. Today at the fish market, I saw some gorgeous scallops, and the recipe was born!

Despite a somewhat fancy name, this is actually a super easy dinner, and if you only count the active prep time, it's very quick, too.  The hubby gave this rave reviews, and it's fun to serve your man a fancy looking meal :)

For the Gastrique:

• Juice of one blood orange
• 1 cup of fresh orange juice
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1 shallot, minced
• Sprinkle of white pepper
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a sauce pan and stir to dissolve the sugar.  Put over medium high heat and bring to a boil. As soon it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low so that the mixture simmers.  Let it simmer until it reduces by at least half (approximately 20 minutes).  Once it reaches a nice, intense color and becomes a bit syrupy, remove from the heat, add little bit of S&P, and set aside.  You can finish the sauce by whisking in 2 T of butter to make it a bit richer, if you want (but that's not necessary, or very authentic).  Now it's time for your scallops!

Scallops*:

• 8 large diver sea scallops (4 per person is a dinner-sized portion)
• S&P
• Olive Oil.

Pat the scallops with paper towel until they are very dry. Then sprinkle with a bit of S&P.  Put a large sauté pan over high heat, and add enough olive oil to be able to coat the bottom of the pan.  Set your temperature to high, and let it get screaming hot (you'll see a bit of smoke coming off the oil).

As soon as this temperature is reached, put your scallops in the pan, flat side down. Make sure they aren't touching and have plenty of room between them, otherwise they will steam and won't sear well. If you need to, break this up into 2 batches.  They will splatter and sizzle and pop, so stand back!  Let them cook for 2 minutes, then flip.  Let them cook for 2 minutes on that side, and then remove and set onto your plate.  Spoon the Gastrique over them, and serve immediately.

I served a scoop of citrus salad on the side.... unfortunately only had ugly romaine hearts in the fridge... it would have been super over frisée or other crunchy mixed greens...... recipe for this:


Citrus Dressing:

• 1/4 Cup Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
• 1/4 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• S&P
• 1/2 cup walnut oil

Use your favorite salad greens, and add some citrus wedges (sans membrane) and shaved red onion.  Toss well, and enjoy!

* A Note on Scallops:


When picking scallops, there are a few things to look for:
Dry or wet:  If possible, get scallops that are "dry" - a.k.a. not sitting in a bowl of liquid.  They're best when just sitting on ice.  That's because when in a liquid, the scallops tend to absorb it. The liquid is somewhat briny, and this can affect the taste of the finished product, and the increased moisture content can also make it more difficult to get a nice sear.
Color:  Get nice warm-white colored scallops.  Any uneven coloring, brownness, or graying should be avoided. Shiny is good. 
Smell:  When scallops are fresh, they will have a nice sweet, not fishy, but oceany smelll.  Ask your fish monger to hand you a scallop to let you smell it if you wish.  That's totally acceptable!
Texture:  They should always be nice and firm. 

Boeuf Bourguignon - aka Fancy Pants Beef Stew

Bon Appétit!

Anyone who has seen "Julie & Julia" knows the significance ascribed to this dish. It just might be my favorite stew recipe ever.  It sounds fancy (shout out to my friend Kelli, who's adorable kids have dubbed me "fancy cooking pants" - this post title is for you guys!) and takes a long time to cook, but it's actually not that complicated and it tastes simply A-mazing.  The wine makes the meat incredibly tender and flavorful, and all of the butter sautéed veggies and the tomato paste add an incredible richness, while the thyme creates a woodsy heartiness.  So many layers of flavor, so incredibly delicious!

This recipe is not Julia's recipe, but the recipe that my Mom and one of my Aunts have always made.  This particular Aunt has a very discerning French husband, and this dish receives his seal of approval! It would be very French to serve it with a toasted buttered baguette, but I like it over a big scoop of mashed potatoes, a la American.  The final French touch, is a condiment - put a dollop of dijon mustard on the side of your bowl to dip the meat into - really brings out the flavor.

This makes quite a bit of stew - I would say it easily serves 6 people, so  have people over, plan for some delish leftovers, or halve the recipe.  SO without further ado - Boeuf Bourguinon.  Bon Appétit!!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs stew beef, trimmed (if it's in really large chunks, cut it into more bite sized pieces)
• 3/4 lb baby carrots, cut in half on the bias (aka diagonally)
• 1/2 to 2/3 bottle of nice red wine (nothing sweet)
• 2 cans reduced sodium beef broth
• 16 oz white button mushrooms (2 packages) cut into thin slices.
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/3 can tomato paste
• 1 cup of frozen pearl onions
• 1/2 cup frozen baby green peas
• 2 whole bay leafs
• 3 cloves garlic, mince
• Worcestershire sauce
• All purpose flour
• S&P
• Butter
• Olive Oil

Directions:
In a large dutch oven* melt 3 T butter and 3 T EVOO over medium high heat.  Season your stew meat with a bit of S&P, and working in small batches, brown the meat but don't worry about cooking it through.  The reason you do this in small batches is so that the meat doesn't get too crowded and steam which leads to gray meat.  When you give the meat more room to cook, it browns up to a beautiful color.  Remove the batches as they complete, and sprinkle them with some flour. Toss to coat.  The flour helps to thicken the stew later on. Set aside.

In the same pot, add another 2 T of butter, and add the carrots. Season with a bit of S&P. Sauté them for about 2 minutes and then add 3 T of flour to the pot.  Turn the heat down to medium.  Stir constantly and keep scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat bottomed wooden spoon.  If the pot gets too dry, add some more butter. (This IS a French recipe, after all... so there's bound to be butter!!) Some of the flour will coat the bottom of the pot, that's okay, and it's okay to let it get to a nice brown color, but don't let it burn (aka turn really dark brown or black).  If it starts to brown too quickly, turn your heat down and take the pot off the heat for a moment. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for another 3 minutes.

Take the bottle of wine and pour 1/2 to 2/3 of it into the pot.  This deglazes the pot, which means that the liquid releases all of the caramelized flavor goodness from the cooking process back into the dish. Scrape the bottom of the pot very well with your wooden spoon until all of the flour coating is loosened and incorporated into the stew.

Add your stew meat back into the pot.  Next, add the beef broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and 3 shakes/dashes of Worcestershire sauce.  Stir well so that the tomato paste incorporates, then cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

As this point, the hard works is done!  While the stew is simmering, sauté your mushrooms.  Tips on the perfect sauteéd mushrooms are here.  I like to do these in butter with S&P and a sprinkle of dried thyme, I also like to cook them down over low heat for quite a bit of time so that they get really nicely browned and delicious.

After the 30 minutes have passed, add the pearl onions and simmer covered for another 30 minutes.

Have a glass of wine (not required, but recommended).

Finally, add the mushrooms and peas, and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes.  Taste to make sure your seasoning is right, adjust if necessary.  Serve and enjoy!!

* I use dutch ovens ALL the time, I couldn't live without them. If you don't have one yet, I highly recommend getting one - click here to view my favorite. The 5/12 quart size is ideal, and cobalt is super pretty.

Mommy Mondays - Chicken Marsala

Here's my Grandfather and my Mom (back in the day), grilling
 in the rain! Both of them love to grill, and not even bad
weather will stop them!

My mom is an excellent chef.  Professionally trained at the Culinary Institute of America, we were soooo lucky as kids growing up to have her make all of our meals.  Whenever she sends me a recipe I know it's going to be great...so here's one she sent me today.  Chicken Marsala is so delicious, and great to entertain with.  Let me know what you think!

Chicken Marsala 
from Cooks Illustrated with note by my Mom.

Ingredients

4	boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 5 ounces each)
1	cup unbleached all-purpose flour
	Kosher Salt
	ground black pepper
2	tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2	ounces pancetta (about 3 slices), cut into pieces 1 inch long and 1/8 inch wide
8	ounces white mushrooms , sliced (about 2 cups)
1	medium clove garlic , minced (about 1 teaspoon)
1	teaspoon tomato paste
1 1/2	cups marsala wine (sweet)
1 1/2	tablespoons lemon juice from 1 small lemon
4	tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces, softened
2	tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place large heatproof dinner plate on oven rack, and heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until very hot (you can hold your hand 2 inches above pan surface for 3 to 4 seconds), about 3 minutes. Pat chicken breasts dry. Meanwhile, place flour in shallow baking dish or pie plate. Season both sides of chicken cutlets with salt and pepper; working one piece at a time, coat both sides with flour. Lift breast from tapered end and shake to remove excess flour; set aside. Add oil to hot skillet and heat until shimmering. Place floured cutlets in single layer in skillet and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using tongs, flip cutlets and cook on second side until golden brown and meat feels firm when pressed with finger, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to heated plate and return plate to oven.

2. Return skillet to low heat and add pancetta; sauté, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits until pancetta is brown and crisp, about 4 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towel--lined plate. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high; sauté, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom, until liquid released by mushrooms evaporates and mushrooms begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, and cooked pancetta; sauté while stirring until tomato paste begins to brown, about 1 minute. Off heat, add Marsala; return pan to high heat and simmer vigorously, scraping browned bits from pan bottom, until sauce is slightly syrupy and reduced to about 1 1/4 cups, about 5 minutes. Off heat, add lemon juice and any accumulated juices from chicken; whisk in butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in parsley. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

Note from my Mom:

The only thing I did differently was adding a can of chicken broth along with the wine and putting the chicken back in the pan at that 5 min mark.Then put the pan in a 200 oven and let it cook for about 15 min till nicely reduced. I also only used 1 Tbsp. of butter. It was so good.  Your Dad said it was better than anything he's had in a restaurant!