Pan-fried Scallops with Garlic Chili Linguine

Garlic and chili flavor the olive oil used to pan-fry succulent scallops and coat linguine tossed with arugula. A deliciously quick meal for any day of the week.

This week’s #SundaySupper theme is a challenge:  Try something new.  A technique, a new ingredient, a new ethnic cuisine.  Just something new that might be considered adventurous.  You may find this hard to believe, but I had never cooked scallops.  I was always just a little bit intimidated by their thickness and the fact that they should be just cooked, not too much, not too little, to be perfect.  Couple that with the fact that they’ve been relatively expensive everywhere I’ve lived and it was easy to justify NOT trying to cook them.  If you know what I mean.  But, thanks to our host for this week, a fellow nomad, Conni from Foodie Army Wife,  I am ready for adventure and here we go!  (And make sure you go on over to Conni’s blog and give her some love.  Spouses like Conni are the backbone of the military and I am grateful for the service of her husband and the sacrifices the whole family has made to make that service possible.)

Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic
1 small red chili
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
8 large scallops
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper (I actually use a three-peppercorn mix of white, black and pink, but freshly ground is key.)
8 oz or about 250g dried pasta (I prefer linguine.)
Massive handful baby arugula or rocket

Method
Lay your scallops out on a bed of paper towels and pat dry with more paper towels.

When they are completely dry, season with a sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Meanwhile, boil your pasta in lightly salted water, according to packet instructions.

Slice your garlic very thinly and chop the chili pepper.

Sauté the garlic and chili in the olive oil, just until the garlic softens.  A little color won’t hurt but you don’t want to the garlic to brown.  We are looking to flavor the oil.

Remove the garlic and chili from the pan with a slotted spoon.

When your pasta is done, drain it and then toss in a huge handful of arugula or baby spinach, if you prefer.

Add in the garlic and chili and stir.  Put the lid back on the pot to keep warm.  The greens will wilt nicely, just from the heat of the hot pasta.

Heat the pan very hot and lay the scallops to fry.  You will need a mesh cover for the pan because, no matter how dry you dried your scallops, they tend to be moist and will spit at you.

After just a couple of minutes, use some tongs to turn the scallops over.  Put the spatter guard back on because now it really goes to town.

When the second side of the scallops are a little golden, turn them back to the first side and push them to one side of the pan.  Add in the pasta and swirl it around in the garlicky, spicy, scallopy olive oil.

Sprinkle with a little more sea salt, if necessary.

Serve each plate with a pile of pasta and four scallops each.

I have to say, scallops will probably be on the menu from now on.  My husband and I both loved them!  And they really weren’t hard at all.

Enjoy!

New Expeditions (Sides, Starters & Staples)

• Baked Lemon Coconut Risotto from Soni’s Food
• Easy Oven Polenta from Shockingly Delicious
• Homemade Corn Tortillas from Pescetarian Journal
• Homemade Peanut Butter from Home Cooking Memories
• Homemade Ricotta Cheese from Webicurean
• Homemade Spiced Flour Tortillas from Chocolate Moosey
• Homemade Tofu from Kimchi MOM
• Indian Moong Beans from Magnolia Days
• Naan from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Portuguese Chorizo Bread from Family Foodie  

Grand Quests (Main Dishes)

• Arepas Rellenas (Stuffed Arepas) from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Baked Tilapia with Parmesan Basil Sauce from Growing Up Gabel
• Black Beans and Cheese Empanadas from Basic N Delicious
• Braised Lamb Brisket with Lemon Oregano Yogurt Sauce from The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Caribou & Andouille Chili from The Foodie Army Wife  
• Miso-Glazed Salmon from The Foodie Patootie
• Pan-fried Scallops with Garlic Chili Linguine from Food Lust People Love
• Penne with Mustard and Chives from My Other City By The Bay
• Pork Dim Sum from Small Wallet, Big Appetite
• Rice Burger from The Urban Mrs.
• Spanish Baked Scallops from Momma’s Meals
• Traditional Pork Tamales from Gourmet Drizzles
• Vegetarian Hortobagyi Pancakes from Happy Baking Days
• Venison Steak Gyros from Curious Cuisiniere

Escapades (Sweet Treats & Spirited Companions)

• Bircher Muesli from Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Chocolate Dipped Madeleines from Big Bear’s Wife
• Dorie Greenspan’s Orange Almond Tart from Hip Foodie Mom
• Fresh Strawberry Frozen Yogurt from The Messy Baker
• Hello Kitty Rice Krispies from The Ninja Baker
• Homemade Cinnamon Rolls from In The Kitchen With KP
• Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows from Vintage Kitchen
• Macaroons from Noshing With The Nolands
• Making Macarons – FAIL! from girlichef
• Multilayer Bars from What Smells So Good?
• Ombre Mini Cakes from Daily Dish Recipes
• Rut-Busting Wines For New Cooking Adventures from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog
• Strawberry Raspberry Fruit Leather from Juanita’s Cocina
• Vegan Chocolate Mousse from The Not So Cheesy Kitchen
• Zebra Cake from That Skinny Chick Can Bake

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Lemon and Cilantro Crusted White Fish for #Random Recipe Challenge

This month’s Random Recipe Challenge has the same rules as always, it’s just gotten a little more high tech, with Dom over at +belleau kitchen creating a random number generator for us to use.  I have seen these, as I am sure you have, on blogs that do giveaways but I had never used one myself.

 Good fun and more probably more random than my usual method, which is to make someone give me a number.  :) Since Eat Your Books has my cookbooks all organized, it was easy enough to find book number 33 in the category of “Wherever Home is Now.”

So, this recipe was adapted from one by Bill Granger in Bills Food,  of which the cover, the endpaper and flyleaf have no apostrophe in Bills so I will cringingly omit it here.  Upon further research, I discovered that his restaurants and blog are also missing the apostrophe.  Why, Bill, why?  Is there a punctuation shortage in Australia?  Such a rich and wonderful country!  I’d be happy to send you some.  But I have to forgive Bill because this fish was delicious.  And he is such a cutie pie.

Ingredients
1/2 cup or about 40g fresh breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup or about 15g fresh cilantro or coriander leaves (or flat-leafed parsley if you are not a fan of cilantro)
1 small red chili (optional)
Zest of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
Few grinds of black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 thick white fish fillets (about 6 oz or 175g each)

Method
Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Chop the garlic and cilantro roughly.  Mince the red chili, if using.

Put the breadcrumbs, garlic, chili and sea salt in the food processor.

Pour in the olive oil and grind in some black pepper and grate in the zest of the lemon. Process until you have lovely green breadcrumbs.

I almost forgot the lemon zest. You should put all the stuff in together, as per the
instructions.   But if you forget something, by all means, add it in.

Heap the mixture on top of your fish, trying to make sure it is all well covered.

Bake until cooked through.  I cooked mine for about 10 minutes and then put the oven on broil (or grill) for a few minutes more to brown the top.  If your fish is thicker or thinner you may have to adjust the time.

Bill says to serve this with garlic mashed potatoes and baby spinach, which I agree would be very lovely but I had some butternut squash that needed roasting so I did that and a small tomato salad instead.

All in all, a fabulous random recipe.  I would definitely make this again.

Enjoy!

Tarka Dal or Curry Lentils

This tarka dal (or curry lentils) is a warm bowl of spicy comfort that is cheap but satisfyingly delicious.

Today Sunday Supper’s theme is budget dishes. In other words, delicious recipes that won’t break the bank. I considered giving you a recipe for my old college standby of tuna casserole with cream cheese (which sometimes didn’t even have tuna if the month was longer than my money) but I settled on something really tasty that we love to eat, even when money isn’t an issue. And that is when you know it’s good!

When we lived in Malaysia, we picked up the habit of eating dal and roti canai for breakfast since the school canteen served a tasty bowl and the little shop not far from our house was great on weekends. But there were many times when I would make my own dal long before that. From the time I got my first Madhur Jaffery cookbook and spice box, in fact, circa 1996-97, this recipe for spicy yellow lentils, cooked down until they become a sauce, has been a favorite. You can thin them with more water and call them soup. Or you can leave them thick and scoop them up with flatbread or serve over rice.

The original recipe doesn’t include potatoes or carrots or green beans, but coffee shops in Malaysia often add them so I do too. The vegetables make this spicy dish even more of a meal. And, best of all, dal is a great, cheap source of easily digestible protein and nutrients. Perfect for this week’s Sunday Supper! You can even make your own naan to go with. It’s easy!

Oh, and a quick word on the title: Dal means split so any split pea or bean is dal but it is also the name of the cooked dish. Tarka refers to the spices that are fried in a little oil and added at the end to season the dish. For more information on lentil varieties, have a look here. And for lentil nutrition, this is a good link.

Ingredients
1 cup or 225g moong dal or split mung beans
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium potato
1 medium carrot
Good handful green beans
1/3 teaspoon asafoetida (optional but good – I couldn’t find any!)
1 teaspoon whole cumin
1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
2 small red chilies plus more for garnish, if desired
Good handful curry leaves (optional but good)
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
Salt to taste

Method
Wash the lentils well in a big bowl of water, making sure that there aren’t any stones or hard bits of mud, and then drain and tip into a large pan. 

Pour in 26 oz or 750ml water. Bring to the boil, and use a slotted spoon to remove the grey-white scum that rises to the surface. As you can see, I missed this step so I skimmed after adding the turmeric. It's all good in the end.

Stir in the turmeric, and turn the stove to simmer. 

 

Skim scum now if you forgot to. 

Put on the lid, but leave it partially ajar, to prevent the pot from boiling over. Check it every once in a while and give it a stir. Add a little more water if necessary. My simmer is hotter than it should be so I did add some water part the way through to make sure the lentils didn’t go dry.

Meanwhile, cut the ends off of your green beans and then cut them into smaller lengths. Peel and chop your carrot and potato.

After about 20 minutes of lentil cooking time, add in the vegetables. Keep simmering for about another 20 minutes, as which point your lentils and vegetables will both be cooked.

If you want to use a couple of red chilies for garnish, slice them finely holding the stem end with a sharp knife and pop them in a glass of ice water. Ideally, they should curl, if you have cut the strands thin enough. Set aside till needed. 

Now on to the tarka for seasoning.

Slice your onion and your garlic very finely. 

 

Heat the oil and add the asafetida (if using), cumin, mustard seeds, whole chilies and curry leaves. And stir! 

When the mustard seeds start popping, which happens quite quickly, add the sliced onion and cook until golden.

Add in the garlic and stir quickly. You don’t want the garlic to burn because it turns bitter. 

Pour the mixture into the dal and give the whole thing a good stir. Add salt to taste and pop the lid on. 

 

Enjoy! As mentioned above, you can serve this over rice or with a flatbread. It is delicious, comforting and affordable!

Adapted from Tarka Dal from Madhur Jaffery

Have a look at all the wonderful budget dishes the #SundaySupper group have for you this week! We are going to eat well and cheaply for the next few weeks on these recipes! Our hosts this week are Lane from Supper for a Steal and Pam from Blueberries and Blessings. Thanks for hosting, ladies!

Starters, Soups, and Salads

• Lentil Soup {Linsensuppe} from The Not So Cheesy Kitchen
• Gado-gado from The Urban Mrs.
• Ramping Up Instant Ramen from girlichef

Main

• Salmon Lasagna from Blueberries and Blessings
• Kadun Pika from The Foodie Army Wife
• Mushroom and Artichoke Quiche with Red Pepper Puree from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Pasta Carbonara from The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
• San Francisco Special Breakfast Burritos from Gourmet Drizzles
• Chicken Divan from Simply Gourmet
• Chicken and Brown Rice with Veggies and Mushrooms from Daily Dish Recipes
• The Cod Puffs War {Duelo de Buñuelos de Bacalao} from My Cute Bride
• From the Pantry Peanut Noodles from Supper for a Steal
• Pasta Puttanesca from Juanita’s Cocina
• Hawaiian Grilled Cheese from Home Cooking Memories
• Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas from I Run For Wine
• Browned Butter Pasta with Collards from Momma’s Meals
• Turkey and Acini Di Pepe Skillet from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Golden State Gourmet from Crazy Foodie Stunts
• Buffalo Chicken Dip Quesadillas from Chocolate Moosey
• Tonkatsu {Pork Cutlet} from Damn Delicious
• Kung Pao Tofu from Ninja Baking
• Roasted Honey Mustard Chicken from Mama’s Blissful Bites
• Four-Cheese Risotto with Turkey Italian Sausage from The Weekend Gourmet
• Chicken with Sauteed Asparagus and Lemons from The Lovely Pantry
• Salvage-Your-Vegetables Frittata from Daddy Knows Less

Sides

• English Baked Beans from Small Wallet, Big Appetite
• Southern-style Black-eyed Peas from Magnolia Days
• Classic Macaroni and Cheese from The Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!
• Baked Beans from What Smells So Good?
• Hearts of Palm Mix Rice from Basic N Delicious

Drinks and Desserts

• Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Frappe from Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Portuguese Rice Pudding {Arroz Doce} from Family Foodie

Garlic Mushroom Parmesan Muffins #MuffinMonday

This week’s Muffin Monday ingredient is mushrooms!  I have to admit that when I first got the email, I was taken aback.  As much as I love mushrooms, I wasn’t sure about mushroom muffins.  But I am never at a loss for muffin inspiration for long.  I sautéed the mushrooms with a healthy helping of fresh garlic and butter because mushrooms and garlic and butter are best friends.  And they play nicely with Parmesan as well, so I added some of that to the muffins, along with a small jalapeño that was going begging in my daughter’s refrigerator.  I knew if I left him behind, he would probably never be used and it made me sad to think of Señor Jalapeño all shriveled and finally thrown away.  He gave his short life to make these muffins better.  To him, I say, gracias.

Ingredients
5 oz or 140g  Cremini or other mushrooms
2 large cloves garlic
1 small jalapeño
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 oz or 85g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup or 60ml sunflower or canola oil
3/4 cup or 180ml milk

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin tin by spraying it with non-stick spray or lining it with paper muffin cups or greasing it with a little olive oil or butter.

Slice the mushrooms and set aside 12 cross-sections to add to the top of the muffin batter before baking.  Finely chop the rest of the mushrooms.

Peel and mince your cloves of garlic.  Mince your jalapeño.

Sauté the mushrooms, garlic and jalapeño in the butter until the mushrooms are golden.

They are going to get watery first.

Just keep cooking till they dry up again and brown a little.  Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile combine your flour, baking powder, Parmesan and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In another small bowl, whisk your eggs with the oil and milk.

Fold your wet ingredients into the dry ones.

Then fold in the sautéed mushrooms, garlic and jalapeño.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups.  Top each with the reserved slices of mushroom.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!