Seared Chilean Sea Bass and Scallops

I decided to try my hand at preparing Chilean sea bass, which is one of my favorite kinds of fish. I love the way Bonefish Grill prepares it, especially with their chimichurri sauce. I wasn't attempting to recreate that dish here, however; I don't have enough experience with cooking fish (other than steaming), so I didn't want to be too ambitious.



What I ended up doing was borrowing Mark Bittman's method of cooking salmon in this recipe -- searing both sides of the fish and popping it into an oven for a few minutes, and serving it on a bed of spicy stir-fried cabbage. Yes, the very same recipe as the one I mentioned using for the last Friday dinner. What can I say, I love it!

I also used a few scallops in the dish, for textural and flavor variety, preparing them the same way I did the fish.



The dish was very tasty, though I think I might have overcooked the sea bass a tad. The only challenge I had with the preparation was that the fish kept sticking to the pan. I used a seasoned cast iron pan, but maybe it wasn't seasoned enough, or maybe I just need to use a different sort of pan. When serving the fish broke off into chunks, which didn't diminish the flavor, but isn't quite picture perfect.

Friday Dinner: Seafood and Vegetable Medley

This week was supposed to be a boring Friday night dinner. Trix and I both had food aplenty in the house and didn't feel like spending the time or the money to get more. We listed the items we each had, and the only things we had in common were vegetables -- and then, not even the same vegetables. Just in the fact that we both had vegetables. We could just have a generically themed dinner. What about a vegetable medley? I suggested. Trix said she had some scallops, and would use those in her medley.





Sometime during the week I discovered Melissa Clark's recipe for roasted shrimp and broccoli (one of the veggies I had), and I decided I wanted to make it, so the theme turned instead to a seafood/vegetable medley.



What started out as a plain, generic veggie medley therefore turned into a couple of delectable, repeatable meals -- one I'd personally like to have again and again.



The recipe for the roasted shrimp and broccoli is easy. Melissa's recipe calls for a few spices, but you could probably just toss the whole thing with salt or salt and pepper, maybe some butter, and it would be equally as good -- maybe even better. This is a recipe I'm definitely going to experiment with. As for roasting the broccoli in the oven, that's something I should have thought of doing long ago. I'm the one who loves broccoli pizza, after all, and go through the same steps when I use it as a pizza topping. So why haven't I ever just made it on its own?



Trix turned hers into a seafood/vegetable casserole by adding pasta and cheese to some squash and mushrooms.



To finish, we spent hours making raspberry & brie fillo rolls from scratch...okay, no we didn't. We took the easy way out and had some frozen ones from Trader Joe's.



They were yummy, but in my opinion, they really are better served as appetizers (as the box suggests) instead of dessert, even though to me, raspberry and cheese just screams dessert. It's not very sweet though, which is why the appetizer verdict. In retrospect I should have served it with some of the lemon curd I recently made from my Meyer lemons; I still have 10 in the package so I may yet do that. Perhaps the sweetness of the lemon curd will make these rolls work better as dessert.



On the side I had more veggies -- the shredded half of a head of cabbage, to be precise. I love stir-fried cabbage, especially when you cook it until it's completely wilted with some hot sauce and soy sauce or salt. Mmm delicious.



Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli (recipe by Melissa Clark, spice conversion by The Wednesday Chef)

Note: I halved this recipe with no problem, and used bottled lemon juice because I had it.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
• 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon hot chili powder
• 1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1 1/4 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2 tablespoons oil, coriander, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and chili powder.
3. In a separate bowl, combine shrimp, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
4. Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes.
5. Add shrimp to baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and golden around edges, about 10 minutes more.
6. Serve with lemon wedges, or squeeze lemon juice all over shrimp and broccoli just before serving.

Creamy Scallop Soup

This soup is not your everyday soup. It takes too much time and too many premium ingredients for that. But it's the perfect thing for a dinner party or special occasion. All the work and effort you put into it is worth the time it takes to concoct this gorgeous, sophisticated soup. The base is silky, creamy, and rich, and yet has a slight tang from the lemon, and a hint of nuttiness from the crème fraîche. And let's not forget the jewels of tender, succulent scallops that are swimming lazily in the broth. The recipe doesn't make much, but it's enough to serve 4. Why? Because something this rich and satisfying doesn't need more than a small bowl. More, in my opinion, lessens the experience; tips it over to the side of being too much. Serve it in small bowls, so each drop can be savored, as it should.



The soup begins with a white fish stock. Where does one obtain the fish heads/bones/frames necessary for the stock? Call a local fish market, or even a regular grocer, and see if they'll reserve you a pound or two of it. They'd likely discard it anyway, so might even give it to you for free (or would charge a nominal fee). I got mine from Whole Foods. I called them the morning I was going to make the stock to have them reserve heads/frames from white fish for me. They charged me $0.99/lb.

Next comes the crème fraîche, the French version of sour cream. But, to no one's surprise, it's better than the usual sour cream. Why? Because crème fraîche has a nutty flavor that imparts itself to the final soup -- so I'd recommend you use the real thing. You can buy a small tub of it (just enough for this soup, actually) made by Bellwether Farms for $2.99 from Trader Joe's. If you can't find it, you could probably subsitute sour cream or whole milk yogurt, but it won't be the same. Alternatively, you could try making an imitation. Do this by adding a tablespoon of buttermilk to a cup of whipping cream, then heating it gently to 110°F (45°C). Let the good bacteria culture grow in a warm place (think rising dough), keeping it there from 8 hours to a couple of days, until it's thick. Once it's the right consistency, transfer it to a small container and store it in the fridge. It'll thicken some more while in there, and will be good for about three weeks. But the truth is, it's a poor substitute. If you can get real crème fraîche, you should definitely splurge.

The recipe calls for whole sea scallops, which are then quartered. I've made this soup twice now, once using whole sea scallops and once using bay scallops. I liked the flavor of the sea scallops more, but bay scallops, with their pleasing whole-mini-scallops look, make for a nicer presentation. Which you use should be determined by which aspect is more important, depending on the occasion for which you're making the soup. A 1-lb bag of frozen bay scallops can be had at Whole Foods for $6.99; a 1-lb bag of frozen, wild sea scallops can be had at Trader Joe's for $10.99; and a 1-lb tub of fresh, wild sea scallops can be had at 99 Ranch for $9.99.

Creamy Scallop Soup

This recipe is originally from Orangette, who calls it "Cream of Scallop Soup," per the Gourmet recipe she got it from. However that makes me think the scallops have somehow been pureed into the soup, which is not the case, so I like my name better.

Ingredients

• ¾ lb. sea scallops, tough ligament removed from side of each if attached
• salt, to taste
• 1 cup white fish stock
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 small shallot, chopped
• 1 thyme sprig
• 7.5oz (213g) crème fraîche (about ¾ cup)
• 2 large egg yolks
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped chives

Method

1. Rinse the scallops, and then pat them dry. Quarter them, and season them with 1/8 tsp. salt.
2. In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the stock, wine, shallot, thyme, and ½ tsp. salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, and boil for 5 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on the solids before discarding them. Return the liquid to the saucepan. Bring it to a boil, then stir in the scallops and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the scallops are just cooked through, about 2 minutes. (Do not overcook. If anything, leave them rare; they will continue to cook after you remove them from the heat.) Remove the scallops with a slotted spoon, and keep them warm, covered. Reserve the cooking liquid in the saucepan.
3. Meanwhile, put the crème fraîche in a small saucepan, and bring it to a simmer over medium-low to medium heat. Simmer until it reduces slightly, about 3 minutes. Add it to the cooking liquid in the medium saucepan, stir well, and simmer together for another 3 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, ¼ cup of the crème fraîche-cooking liquid mixture, and pepper. Add half of the remaining crème fraîche mixture to the yolk mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Then pour it all back into the medium saucepan, whisking. Cook over very low heat, whisking, until just slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Do not boil. Remove from the heat, taste for seasoning, and salt as needed.
5. Divide the scallops among 4 small soup bowls, and then ladle the soup on top. Sprinkle with chives. Serve immediately.