Day 25: Bon Voyage Dinner: Scallopine in Lemon-Caper Sauce with Steamed Caesar Artichokes

(Actual date: Feb. 15th)

Tomorrow Ryan leaves for Asia for 10 days. Gulp. Trying to not think about it. I'll make him a special dinner tonight before he hits the land of Dim Sum. One of our all time favorite restaurants is Felidia in NYC. It's owned by Lidia Bastianich, cookbook author and host of her own TV series, Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian American Kitchen. We've met her several times at the restaurant, and I even worked with her when she made an appearance here in Fort Worth back in 2001. In fact, she's coming to Central Market-Fort Worth again on March 12th for a book signing. Her cookbook, Lidia's Italian American Kitchen, is one of my favorites. Every meal that we've ever had at her restaurant has been wonderful and every meal that I've ever made out of her cookbook has been wonderful as well. That's where I pulled the Scallopine recipe. The artichoke recipe is one of my mother-in-law's. I love these artichokes. It makes my mouth water just thinking about them as I type this.

Scallopine in Lemon-Caper Sauce

Grocery List:

• 2 lemons
• 4 servings of veal scallopine (be sure it's scallopine)
• 2 garlic cloves peeled
• 10 large green olives
• 1 cup small capers in brine, drained
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock or canned reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Artichokes

• 4 fresh whole artichokes
• Caesar salad dressing
• 1 cup of Croutons

Items already in pantry/fridge:

• Salt
• Pepper
• All-purpose flour
• Unsalted butter
• Olive Oil

Scallopine in Lemon-Caper Sauce

Squeeze the juice from one and a half of the lemons and reserve. Lay the remaining half-lemon flat side down and cut into very thin slices with a paring knife. Remove pits and set the lemon slices aside.

Season the scallopine with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour to coat both sides lightly and tap off excess flour. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a wide, heavy skillet over medium heat until the butter is foaming. Add as many of the scallopine as will fit without touching and cook until golden brown on the underside, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until the second side is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining scallopine.

Remove all scallopine from the pan. Pour off the fat and carefully wipe out the skillet with a wad of paper towels. Pour in the remaining 3 tbsp olive oil and add the remaining 4 tbsp butter, the garlic and lemon slices. Cook, scraping the bottom of the skillet, until the garlic is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Scoop out the lemon slices and set aside. Scatter the olives and capers into the skillet and cook, stirring gently, until they begin to sizzle, about 4 minutes. Pour in the wine, bring to a vigorous boil, and cook until wine is reduced in volume by half. Pour in the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and cook until slightly syrupy, about 4 minutes. Return the scallopine to the skillet, turning the cutlets in the sauce until they are warmed through and coated with sauce. Swirl in the parsley and divide the scallopine among warm plates. Spoon the sauce over them, including some of the capers and olives in each spoonful. Decorate the tops of the scallopine with the reserved lemon slices.

Caesar Artichokes

• Wash and trim the artichokes.
• Steam for 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Remove artichokes from water and drain.
• Set each artichoke up right in a baking dish.
• Drizzle with Caesar dressing and one pat of butter.
• Crumble croutons over each artichoke.
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove and serve.

Day 24: Valentine's Day Dinner

I am way behind with my blogging. Notice it's March 5th, and I'm blogging about Valentine's Day. This seems like a million years ago. Since Valentine's Day was on a Monday this year, we actually celebrated Valentine's Day the Saturday before and went to Grace for dinner. Of course, you can't let the actual day pass without a little something special for your sweetheart. This Valentine's Day I made scallops. It varied slightly from this recipe because the only scallops CM had left in the store when I got there were bacon wrapped. No problemo. We love bacon!

Scallops Bonne Femme and Spinach with Crispy Prosciutto

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray, 2007

Prep Time:

10 min

Inactive Prep Time:

--

Cook Time:

20 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

4 servings

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 12 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 8 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup cream
• Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 or 2 dashes hot sauce
• 8 slices prosciutto
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves chopped
• 3 to 4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 baguette, split and halved
• 20 large sea scallops, trimmed of any connective tissue and patted dry
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• Handful parsley leaves, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, cracked from skin
• 1 pound triple washed spinach, stems removed

Directions

Place oven rack at center of oven and preheat broiler.

Heat 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil in a small pot over medium heat and add the shallots and mushrooms, cook 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons butter and flour to softened shallots and mushrooms and cook 1 minute then whisk in wine, reduce 30 seconds, add stock and bring to a bubble. Stir incream and heat through. Season sauce with nutmeg, salt and pepper and a couple dashes hot sauce, then reduce heat to low.

While the sauce is working, cover cookie sheet with foil and place prosciutto on the sheet and crisp up 2 minutes on each side under the broiler. It will continue to crisp as it cools.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining 6 tablespoons butter, garlic, thyme and basil. Spread overbaguette and place under broiler until toasty. Switch oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat a skillet or cast iron pan over high heat. Season the scallops with salt and pepper and dress with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Sear the scallops to caramelize 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on each side then cover them with sauce, bread crumbs and parsley and finish in oven about 6 to 7 minutes until brown and bubbly.

While scallops cook, heat remaining 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat with crushedgarlic, cook 1 minute and remove. Add spinach and wilt into skillet. Season greens with salt and pepper.

Serve scallops with wilted spinach alongside and top with broken pieces of crispy prosciutto and toasted bread.