Seared Sea Scallops with Herb/Wine Sauce on Linguini

1 package of Buitoni Linguini

1 pound of sea scallops

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons of butter

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 large shallot, chopped

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

4 springs fresh thyme

1 cup of white wine

a good handful of fresh basil leaves torn

about half of a handful of parsley, chopped

1 lemon, you will use the zest and juice from this lemon

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and turn the oil in the pan so it gets coated. Now add 2 tablespoons of butter.

When your butter melts into the oil it is time to add the scallops. You will want to ensure your butter/oil mixture is hot and you will be able to tell by the smoke produced by the skillet at the surface. DO NOT ADD SCALLOPS UNTIL THE SKILLET IS HOT! Ok got your attention trust me this makes a difference on the meal.

Brown the scallops which if you followed the directions on ensuring of a hot skillet, this will take about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Ok now the scallops are done, remove the scallops from the pan and cover with foil to keep them warm while you finish the rest of the dish. (This is when I start my pot of water for the linguini)

Now add just a little bit of olive oil to your skillet over high heat and add garlic, shallots, crushed red pepper, thyme, and salt to taste.

Once this comes to a boil, reduce the heat a little and saute everything for about 4 minutes. During these four minutes make sure you stir constantly and I enjoyed a glass of wine while stirring to make it a little more interesting. Ok now add the wine and this should free up the pan drippings which I call YUMMY GOODNESS! Now once the drippings free up add the clam juice.

Cook this for about 4 minutes and now add the basil/parsley:

Add lemon zest:

Add lemon juice:

Then add the remaining butter:

While the butter is cooking into the sauce, I add my linguini noodles to the pot of water that should be boiling by now. Stir the wine sauce and within two minutes my noodles are done and I add them to the sauce.

Let the pasta soak up the sauce for 1 minute before you start stiring everything up–this also makes a difference in this dish.

Now time for the plating:

I served this dish with a bottle of Pinot Grigio and we actually ate outside which was very nice. I hope you enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Sauteed Spinach:

Two very large handfuls of  baby spinach leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Freshly squeezed lemon juice–1/2 lemon

In a very large pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute, until about half is brown. Add all the spinach, the salt, and pepper to the pot, toss it with the garlic and oil, cover the pot, and cook it for 2 – 4 minutes.

Uncover the pot, turn the heat on high, and cook the spinach for another minute, stirring with a wooden spoon (I love cooking with wooden spoons!). Once the spinach is wilted, it is done. I let the spinach sit for about 5 minutes and I squeeze lemon and sprinkle kosher salt and I start on the shrimp.

Garlic & Herb Shrimp:

Ok I made a rookie mistake and made my herb/garlic mix before Jen (my photographer) took the pic. So here is the skinny:

20-25 small shrimp (no shell and no pooper vein – sorry but that is what I call it!)

2 cloves of garlic – minced very small

5 stems of fresh chives

2 tablespoons of fresh parshley chopped

1/4 cup of orange juice

1/2 of a lemon

Take a saute pan and turn on high heat. Add the shrimp and let the shrimp cook for about two minutes.

Now here is something I like about cooking, the shrimp started to cook really fast and I noticed the yummy flavor sorta sticking to the pan so what did I do? Yep I grabbed a bottle of white wine and added about 1/4 cup of white wine to the pan of shrimp, and had a small glass for myself too.  (Hey–I HAD to make sure it tasted good!) 

Stir the shrimp and don’t overcook.   I typically cook my shrimp for 8 minutes max (4 minutes per side) and I squeeze half of a lemon over top of the shrimp once it is cooked. Now, time to plate! Remember, this was not an expensive meal nor one that took forever to make, but with plating, you can make it look like a million bucks and like you spent all day slaving over the stove.

See how I stacked the spinach and made sure I added the garlic to the top?

Amazing how two stems of chives and a little sprig parsley dress up this simple dish. Here is a view of the total plating:

Now, we have conquered garlic and herb shrimp-simple, huh?  Stay tuned for the weekend meals–great appetizer recipes coming up on Saturday when we are hosting a party at our house.   Would love to hear your success stories with the recipes so far from this week.  Feel free to leave your remarks in the ‘Comments” section.

Happy Cooking!

Sausage Spaghetti:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 pound of sweet Italian sausage (make sure it is 100% pork trust me this makes a difference)

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1 can of tomato sauce

3 cloves of garlic – sliced

handful of black Kalamata olives-diced

1 onion – chopped

1 bell pepper – chopped

2 bay leaves (either fresh or dried)

handful of mushrooms

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (if you don’t have fennel seed, get some I use it on several dishes and it really adds flavor)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 cup of fresh basil leaves, tear them off the stem don’t chop

1 package of fresh pasta (another difference in this recipe-it tastes really great with fresh pasta, but if you only have the hard boxed stuff, that’s ok too)

1/4 cup of fresh grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat (I use my favorite dutch oven for this).  Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until brown, which is about 7-8 minutes. I then add garlic, green pepper, and onions which I cook for about 5 minutes. Now remember we keep the heat on medium and we want some flavor on the bottom of pot so break out the wine (or a little water if you prefer not to have alcohol) to loosen up the goodness stuck to the bottom of the pot–trust me, it makes a difference.

Ok wine for me first because for some reason I can’t cook any pasta without drinking a glass or two. I add about 1/4 cup of wine to the pot once I see brown goodness (or brown stuff to those of you without the culinary eye) on the bottom.

Increase the heat to high and now add the diced tomatoes and sauce to the pot and mix well.

Stir and cook on high heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Add fennel seeds, parsley, basil, bay leaves, mushrooms and black olives and reduce the heat to medium after you have mixed everything. Let the sauce simmer for 20-25 minutes and stir occasionlly. Take a large pot and fill it up halfway with water and add a teaspoon of olive oil and turn on high heat (we will use this later for the pasta).

No Lettuce Salad:

1/4 cup of Olive Oil

1/3 cup of Red Wine Vinegar

1 Cucumber

1 tomato

3 scallions

about half of a small container of feta cheese

Peel and cut the cucumbers in slices add to large bowl. Now slice onions and tomato, plus grab just little less than a handful of feta cheese add to the bowl as well.

Pour over the veggies and cheese

See that red stuff in the bowl with your salad?  That is your olive oil and vinegar you added which is now a vinegrette.  Did you ever think that as a guy you could make your own salad dressing?  Well, guess what, you did.  Now the water should be boiling, add the package of fresh pasta and let it boil for 1 to 2 minutes. Turn off heat on the sauce and go fishing for the bay leaves to remove–you can’t eat them, so make sure you get them out. Your pasta should be done now so remove from the stove and then drain. Put some pasta on a bowl and scoop a good amount of pasta sauce on top of the pasta. I sprinkle fresh cheese on top and here is how I did the plating for tonight.

And finally here is how I did the overall setting:

This is a very simple thing to cook and trust me when you make this meal and say, “I made this sauce myself”, it should knock her socks off, literally and figuratively. Happy Cooking!