A Simple Meal........

[mrdutton]

Maybe this should also be part RANT..... but can you imagine my chagrin when I went to the local grocery store and could not find any shallots nor any green onions!! And here I was all set to make the killer sauce for my pan seared scallops.

So, I improvised.......

Diced onion
Diced green pepper
Diced red pepper
Minced clove of garlic
Diced tomato
Sea salt
Olive oil
Butter

Sea scallops (or even better cold water day scallops if you can find them)

Creme fraiche
White Wine

String beans

Saute minced garlic, onion, green pepper, red pepper in olive oil/butter mixture over medium heat until translucent. Add tomatoes. Simmer until almost dry. Deglaze with white wine.

Meanwhile in another saute pan preheated with olive oil and butter over a medium high heat, add about a half-pound of sea scallops to the hot oil mixture.

About the same time, start steaming the green beans until they are "al dente"; adjust seasoning as might be required.

Reduce heat and add a couple tablespoons of creme fraiche to the onion, pepper, tomato reduction.

Place the seared scallops on a plate with paper towels to absorb the oil.

Take the reduction off the heat and add a couple of generous patties of cold butter, whisking rapidly to incorporate; adjust seasoning as might be required.

Plate by saucing a part of the plate, place the scallops on top of the sauce and then cover them with the remaining sauce. Then spoon on the green beans and serve the plate.

Wine of choice for this plate was: CHER BLANC a cheap white at $4.99 a bottle (before case discount) from France. It was used in the sauce to deglaze and reduce and it was drunk at the table as part of the meal.

Super supper!! Wine was citrus and crisp with enough acid to handle the tomatoes in the sauce. Nothing here seemed to overpower, it all just blended together.

The wine: Cler' Blanc (NV), vin de table Francais, vin eleve et mis en bouteilles par Sauvion et Fils - Le Cleray-Vallet L. A. France. (Imported by W.J. Deutsch & Sons, Harrison, N.Y.)



[This message has been edited by mrdutton (edited 08-17-2001).]