Anniversary dinner: Risotto and seared scallops

Many couples go out for dinner for their anniversary. The husband and I celebrated last night by making our own:

A white wine risotto with seared scallops, wilted spinach and steamed asparagus:

It's actually not that hard to make a risotto. I made it for the first time last night.

White wine risotto
1 cup Arborio rice (it's a short grain rice)
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 yellow onion minced (I chopped mine and then used a Pampered Chef slap chop)
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups chicken based DIVIDED into one cup measures (I use Better Than Bouillon as they have reduced sodium)
2 pinches Kosher Salt
Cracked Pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons  dried parsley (Next time, I intend to use fresh)

In a medium pan, melt butter over medium heat and saute onions. Add rice and mix for two minutes, until it is well mixed and translucent.

 Add wine, salt and pepper to the mix and cook until the wine has absorbed into the mix. Now, here is the fun part. You ladle ONE CUP of the base at a time and mix it until it is absorbed. All told, it takes about 25 minutes.

After that is done, you add the cheese and parsley and mix well.

Set aside and prepare yourself.

Seared Scallops
One pound of sea scallops
Kosher Salt
Fresh Cracked Pepper
2 teaspoons butter (seriously)
2 teaspoons olive oil
6 ounces baby spinach

Wash scallops and pat dry. Salt and pepper the scallops.

Heat a cast iron skillet on high, add the butter and oil. Place the scallops in the pan -- make sure they do not touch -- and have them form a nice sear. This will take about 1 1/2-2 minutes.

After they have seared, turn them over and cook an additional 2 minutes. They are cooked fully once they are slightly translucent in the center.

Remove the scallops to a warm plate and have place the spinach in the hot pan. Salt and pepper it to taste.

Steamed Asparagus
This is a standby favorite in our household. We eat it often and it is so easy to make.

1 pound of asparagus
Butter to taste
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Kosher Salt

Snap off the hard ends of the asparagus and toss them in the trash (or composter). Then, snap the asparagus in half. Set top half of the asparagus aside.

Set steamer basket (like this: http://www.amazon.com/Maxi-Aids-Steamer-Basket/dp/B003E6NPUE) over medium-high heat and cook bottoms for four minutes. Add tops, and cook an additional three minutes.

Remove immediately. Top with butter, salt and pepper.

To plate it
Place 3/4 of a cup of risotto on the center of a plate.
Cover the top of the risotto with a layer of spinach.
Place four scallops on top.
Set the asparagus on either side.

We served this with Black Box Pinot Grigio, and were thrilled.

For desert we had 1-year-old wedding cake and Italian Coffee. Yum. Seriously, our cake was good a year later.

Frittata + chowder + biscuits = happy husband

It's been cold here, so I made clam chowder. I will have to get permission to share that recipe. In the mean time, stare in envy at my delicious dinner:

Clam chowder, from scratch.

A cheddar and crab frittata.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits (totally from a box)

"Tame" jambalaya

Oh jambalaya. I didn't think I would actually like this food. Every time I mentioned picking up some shrimp for dinner, The Husband would say, "Oh? For jambalaya?" I would sigh and say, "Ugh, jambalaya." 

Well, come to find out, I actually really like jambalaya, and now clamor to make it on a regular basis.

This is the tame version of jambalaya. There's minimal heat but a lot of flavor. This dish makes enough to feed an army, or your family for a week. I used the chicken stock from a previous post in the recipe, but I have used canned/cubed in the past. 

Here is what you will need to make a flavorful jambalaya:

1 medium to large tomato, diced (see pics)

1 bunch of celery (tops removed and used in stock the night before), diced, but not too small (see pics)

1/2 of an onion (the other half was used in the stock the night before), diced, but not too small (see pics)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons of butter

1 Tablespoon of paprika

1 Tablespoon of smoked paprika 

1 Tablespoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoon of chili powder

Fresh ground pepper to taste - I use rainbow peppercorns from Funky Fairy

Salt to taste

6 cups of chicken stock - http://patesplates.blogspot.com/2014/08/chicken-stock-experiment.html

2 cups of dry brown rice

3 pounds of various meats, prepared - We use about one pound each of a poultry, pork and seafood. Thus far, our favorite mix is chicken breast, kielbasa and shrimp. I'm trying to find a lower-fat mix. I'm open to suggestions from the readers! 

If using shrimp, remove the tails, skin and vein and put it back in the fridge. 

This is about the size of properly diced tomatoes.

I prefer to have my onions this size. They keep their firmness in the long cooking time.

Chop the celery uniformly.

Homemade broth.

After collecting your ingredients, let's get started!

1. Chop all the vegetables and set them aside.

2. Put two tablespoons of butter in a large pot, sauté the garlic, and spices in the pot for a couple of minutes over medium heat, until fragrant.

3. Add the tomatoes, cooking some of the liquid out of the vegetable.

4. Add fragrant vegetables of your choice. I use onions and celery. You can also use red or green peppers. Sauté for several minutes.

5. Add your meat -- except the shrimp -- and saute.

6. Add dry rice and sauté  for 30 seconds.

7. Add broth and bring to a rolling boil. Once it boils, turn it down to a simmer. Let simmer for 40 minutes.

8. Check the firmness of the rice, and the seasonings.

9. Add the shrimp and cook for another five minutes.

10. Enjoy!!

Be on the look out in coming weeks for a kicked-up version of this!

Chicken stock: The experiment

Friday was a travel day for us, but we also realized quite late that we had a limited supply of food in the house. 

This led to a  problem: We would be getting home around dinner time but have no dinner, and no breakfast food either.

Solution? Grocery store run. But The Husband had a plan. He wanted a rotisserie chicken for dinner Friday, with leftovers to be used in jambalaya the next night. OK, can do. I have a jambalaya recipe I've been tinkering with for months now.

After the chicken was pulled, we decided we wanted do something more. We wanted to make chicken stock. This would be an experiment!

Here are the steps we took when making our stock:

1. Pull a cooked chicken clean. Some chicken left on the carcass is OK!

2. Break the bones and put the chicken carcass in a large pot.

3. Clear the vegetable drawer. I cut the tops off my celery, you know the part most people throw away? I used it in this. I used the flimsy baby carrots I would have probably tossed. I also used half of an onion.

4. My seasonings were: Palm full of dried parsley. I bet fresh is good too, but we didn't have any in the fridge. I used salt and pepper. My pepper is rainbow pepper from the Funky Fairy. It is amazing!

5. Fill the pot with water.

6. Bring the pot to a boil.

7. Turn it down and let it simmer for 2 to 4 hours, skimming fat off if it comes to the surface.

8. When it is done, strain the solids and press them, making sure to get as much of the stock out as possible.

9. Let the broth cool in the fridge and skim the fat off the top.

Ta-da! That's it. Super easy. This can last for a couple days in the fridge, and I'm not sure how long in the freezer.

Championship breakfast

We love breakfast here in the Pate household. It gets us out of bed, most mornings.

Today, it was no different. We had mangoes with English muffins and half a cup of 2% cottage cheese. A fruit, protein and 1/3 of our daily fiber! All in ine meal! Yum!

Fruit plate

Fruit plate with strawberries, pears, blueberries, tomatoes and feta. 

If you look closely you can see a pattern. Make your food look beautiful.

Greek salad

Greek chicken salad, topped with 1/2 ounce of feta, kalamata olives, and sweet peppers. We used homemade tzatkiki sauce as the salad dressing.

I marinated the chicken in olive oil with garlic, oregano and rosemary for a few hours and then baked the chicken in the oven: 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

I prefer Ina Garten's Tzatziki's Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tzatziki-recipe.html. It's creamy, amazing and SO easy. You should try it out!

Hollandaise pork omelette

We had pork and eggs Benedict for Valentine's Day and had some Hollandaise and half a pork chop  leftover. What's the best way to use that up? In an omelette of course! Throw in some fresh vegetables, grated cheese and sautéed mushrooms and you've got yourself a great breakfast. 

The husband picked up these huge strawberries last night. This was a great weekend breakfast.