Climbing The Walls

Climbing The Walls
Originally uploaded by galaxygoo1

Look closely...that little person at the top of the wall (upper right) is my 10-year-old.

There's my girl! She obviously didn't get my acrophobia!

My Daughter's first Pasta Sauce

My ten-year-old made this for us tonight, all by herself, and it was seriously yummy!

She took one big tomato, and chopped it up into fine chunks, and put it in a pan over the stove's pilot light. Then she sprinkled tangerine infused olive oil (from Stonehouse) over the tomatoes. Then she took fresh basil and cut it up a bit and mixed it into the tomato and oil. Next came salt and pepper.

Then she turned the stove on and stirred while cooking over low heat for a few minutes.

She let it sit to cool, and mixed her sauce with the pasta.

Then she added some grated parmesan cheese, and mixed it all up. Tasting...a little more salt and pepper...ready to eat yumminess. All her very own recipe.

My First Scallops, with zucchini and pasta

prepping the marinade


scallops in marinate


heating up the olive oil


sauteeing the onions and fennel in olive oil


scallops in the pan


reducing splatter


adding the zucchini and tomato


dressing the pasta


scallops with zucchini and pasta

I cooked scallops tonight! It was my very first time! And it was good!

I have to admit that most sea food intimidates me, at least when it comes to cooking. It's the timing that scared me. Just minutes, and it's ruined. An overcooked scallop is an inedible rubbery thing. Yuck!

But my 10-year-old loves scallops. So I decided to attempt them. She also requested that I try to make them a slightly spicy.

We got some lovely scallops from Drewes. They're an old-fashioned butcher shop in Noe Valley, and carry sustainable sea food and fish, as well as free-range meats.

I opened up the bag of scallops, and bravely faced my culinary fears. I quickly figured out what to do, and started right away on the marinate and getting the scallops into it. Improvising with familiar flavors for the marinate, I tossed together olive oil, red onion, roasted red peppers, garlic, fresh basil, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Then I remembered that lemon on the counter, so I squeezed in juice from half of it. I saved the juice from the other half to squeeze over the scallops for when they're ready to serve.

While the scallops were marinating, I got some olive oil in a pan with pancetta. I want to render the fat, so I kept the heat really low. This can take a while.

When the pancetta browned, I added the red onion and fennel for a quick saute. I just want to soften them up a bit, and then I took them out of the pan and save them for later.

Now I'm ready to cook the scallops. I know they should only cook for 2-3 minutes per side. But I was still a little nervous. This is my first time.

I cranked up the heat on the pan, to get it very hot when I add the scallops. Hoping to get a nice crust on the top and bottom of the scallop, and keep the pan hot, I only put in five scallops at a time.

After the scallops were all done, I added a teaspoon of flour and stired for a few minutes to thicken the sauce...just a little.

Next, I deglazed with a glass of chardonnay, making sure to get all those brown bits into the sauce. I made sure to let the alcohol boil off a bit, and then I added the solids the scallops were marinating with.

The onions and fennel I'd softened up earlier go back into the pan, followed by the zucchini with roasted red peppers and capers. I put the cover on, and turn down the heat.

By now, the water I'd started earlier, had come to a vigorous boil and it was time to start the pasta. Now, I'm a big fan of a local brand of pasta (Eduardo's), and I keep several pasta shapes in my pantry at all times. Tonight, I thought a fettuccine was called for and was happy to find it in my pantry. Eduardo's fettuccine takes 6-8 minutes to cook, so I set my timer for 7 minutes. As usual, when the timer chimed, the pasta was perfectly done.

While the pasta was draining, I put the scallops in the sauce...for just a quick warm up. To serve, I added pasta to the sauce and swished it around a bit with my tongs, making sure the pasta was completely coated with the lovely light sauce.

A little pasta in the shallow bowl. Veggies and scallops on top. In the end, it was all super tasty. Both my 10-year-old and 5-year-old gobbled it up, and asked for more scallops.

I admit that the scallops were slightly overcooked, by maybe half a minute. While certainly not rubbery, they weren't perfectly tender. Oh well. It my first try. They'll be even better next time.

A Lighter Mac-n-Cheese

Looks great in the bowl
Originally uploaded by galaxygoo1

After the Maker Faire, I was feeling even more adventurous in the kitchen than usual. I improvised on this dish, based on what ingredients I had on hand, and it turned out very tasty.

First, I cut down the chicken and tossed it in a simple marinade of olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, dry basil, oregano, salt, and fresh ground pepper.

Once that started marinating, I got the pancetta in a pan with a little olive oil and began prepping the rest of the ingredients (onion, zucchini, roasted red peppers, ...).

At this point, I sort of veered a little off my usual path. When the pancetta came out of the pan, I quickly seared the chicken in the oil, and then set the seared chicken aside.

Into the oil, I added the red onions. Once a little translucent, I added the zucchini and peppers, just long enough to soften them a little. These all came out of the pan.

Next, I made a very light roux by adding a tablespoon of butter and a little flour. After stirring this for a while, and letting it darken just a bit, I added a glass of white wine and a can of tomato sauce.

Then the chicken and veggies went back into the pan. At this point, I added cheese (fontina, monterey jack, and paressean) a little at a time. I'd and a few pinches of cheese, stir until it all melts in, and then add a little more cheese. In all, I added about 1-1/2 cups of cheese.

By now, the pasta is done cooking and is ready to join the sauce. A few minutes later it's on the table. It was a hit with everyone!

How did it taste? Sort of a cross between mac-n-cheese and a really good tomato soup. It was seriously tasty!