Sunday 27 January 2013

Fettuccine parmesan cream scallops

 You could eat organic home made like this for FREE!!!


Well, not literally, but almost.

One of the side effects of trying to eat better and healthier meals with a struggling regard to portion control (I hate those words) I have found myself saving things that would have just gone into last Saturday's snack which would now be pulling on the buttons of my dress shirts. Other things I have been saving would have just gone into the trash.

For example, last weekend we had some marvelous Panko breaded scallops. The package came with 12 scallops and lets face it, we can eat! So normally I would have made all 12. However, trying to make better choices and it being January, it goes without saying that I don't need the extra caloric intake if you know what I mean. 


So the adventure begins when I had 4 leftover scallops, I tucked them in the freezer in a little container and figured I would find the right combo for this little treat... so now you see where I got the "free" scallops. What does one do with "free" scallops? One rolls them in a bit of flour and fries them in burnt butter!!!



This here is my other "free" ingredient. We poached cod in the oven with white wine and lemon juice on Wednesday. After the cod was plated, I drizzled off the remains in the pan to a couple of these cute little jars! I love these jars, so much better than plastic, you don't have to wait for the oil or juice to cool and you don't have any of those "plastic" issues with food we keep hearing about.


I am using these jars more and more. Keeping the drippings off of just about anything is a whole lot better for your health than using those "convenient" flavour packs and sauce bases that are full of salt and preservatives. You can keep things for a week in the fridge or throw it in the freezer for a couple months. Labelling is important for freezing, most stuff does not smell when frozen and that white wine clam juice could turn out to be chicken stock! Talk about dissapointment!

So today's 15 minute snack utilizes random stuff in the fridge:

2 fists full of home made fettuccine noodles, dried and frozen, boil for 6 minutes
6 oz leftover white wine and lemon poaching liquid
4 scallops thawed, if you are not dieting you could drag them in flour
A hand full of slightly wilted arugula that won't be good by bedtime, chopped
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan Reggiano


Oh and a couple ounces of my favourite secret ingredient...


As you wait for the water to boil for the pasta, fry the scallops in a bit of butter, 4 minutes on each side on med heat. Set aside on paper towel. Then add your poaching liquid to the sauce pan and bring to a slow boil. Reduce liquid by half or so, enough to wet your pasta but not drown it.


Drain the pasta, put it back in the pot and on it's burner which is turned off but still hot. If you have too much juice or if your pasta is a bit undercooked you can leave it set for a minute or two to work itself out. Add cream, a tablespoon at a time until its right for you. The arugula can be added now, it can handle a bit of heat. Lastly add parmesan and remove from burner, mix well, you will notice the parmesan has a bit of a thickening effect.



Voila! The whole thing took 15 minutes, which is less time than one of those package noodle and sauce thingys!



Bon appétit!

1 comment:

  1. Yummmm!
    This is a "snack"? I don't do this much work for supper. I think I need to take some cooking lessons from you.

    ReplyDelete