Thursday, January 28, 2010

I got the sear!

One of my other passions (besides photography, traveling, and anything diabetes related) is cooking. Don't get excited now, I hate spending lots of time in the kitchen, so I appreciate quick, easy recipes. The last thing I want to do when I get home after a full day at work is cook something that takes three hours. No thanks.

Today, I found a simple recipe for scallops and pasta by one of my favorite food bloggers Jaden Hair. I thought I'd give scallops another try, because a few months ago, I made a dish with scallops purchased from the market. The guy lied to me and said they were dry packed, when in fact they were not. I was so disappointed that I gave up on trying again— it was a fairly expensive mistake. The total cost of ingredients that time around was about $20, which is a lot when you're accustomed to paying $5-7 for dinner.

This time around, I decided to go to a high-end market (Di Bruno Bros.) on the way home, pony up the extra dollars, and give it another shot. I got some tips from the seafood guy, who said, and I quote: “Pat it dry, then sear the f*ck out of it.” YESSIR! *salutes*

Imagine my joy when I did exactly what he (and Jaden) told me to do. I got an AWESOME sear (the apartment filled up with smoke, but let's ignore that). I whooped and hollered (literally; I scared Chris) when I flipped over the first scallop.

Chris snapped this while I was plating. For the record, we each had six jumbo scallops, but I only put four on so you could still see the pasta. ;) Total cost of dinner tonight: $25, which includes the scallops, pasta, tomatoes, onions, and other items.