Misson Possible: February

Let me start by saying that there's nothing quite like sitting next to my honey, warm under the electric blanket, and blogging while watching the Discovery Channel's "Egypt Week". Heaven. Dr. Zahi Hawass has the most charming accent.

Friday night was my second Mission Possible cooking project, in which KC and I invited his parents over to be our guinea pigs dinner guests. Deciding on what to make was somewhat of a challenge, but after agonizing for weeks, we finally agreed upon a delicious seared scallops and pasta dish. Jaden, of Steamy Kitchen fame, shared a scrumptious-looking recipe on the Tasty Kitchen blog that looked perfect.

Other than shrimp, I don't have a ton of experience cooking with seafood, and frankly, getting the sear right on giant scallops sort of intimidated me. But as the point of this project is to challenge me to get out of my comfort zone, I knew I had to give it a go.

As is my new tradition, I began by putting on a cute, clean apron...



...and grabbing my kitchen assistant ;)



I boiled the linguine in salt water first and put it aside, and assembled my other ingredients: minced garlic, diced tomatoes, chopped parsley, olive oil, and white wine. Since the scallops would cook up quickly, I wanted to make sure everything I needed was pre-measured and on hand.





While the pasta was still cooking, I prepared a light spinach side salad, topped with chopped walnuts, dried cranberries, and fresh feta cheese.



When the linguine was done, I put it aside and heated up KC's giant skillet. I drizzled in a bit of olive oil, and when the pan was insanely hot, began tentatively dropping in my scallops. Though I had followed Jaden's advice and really patted them dry, I was worried about either not getting a good enough sear or flat-out burning them. My furrowed brow of intense concentration eventually chased everyone out of the kitchen while I hovered nervously over my sizzling critters.



Next time I need to trust the recipe instead of giving into to my own second-guessing. In a moment of weakness, I turned down the heat on the stove, because I was afraid of over-cooking them. As a result, they took longer to sear evenly. Fortunately, they turned out all right, but lesson learned!



After the scallops were finished, I put them aside. I threw the minced garlic into the pan, followed by the diced tomatoes, white wine, and parsley. The mixture was then brought to a high boil-- alcoholic fumes galore!





And finally, the linguine!



I tossed everything together and served each portion with 3-4 giant scallops and a sprig of fresh parsley.



What I love about this recipe: It was light and fresh, and didn't leave me with that bloated feeling that heavier pasta dishes sometimes do. It's also a very versatile dish and would be just as delicious served with shrimp and/or a variation of spices.

What I would do differently next time: More scallops! I seriously underestimated the shrinkage involved with cooking scallops and assumed that almost a pound of them would be enough. For four people? Not so much... I was also hesitant about adding too much seasoning, as Jaden warned that the pasta would be flavored from the salt water. As a result, the dish wasn't as flavorful as I would have liked. Next time, I think I'll try cilantro instead of parsley, along with a bit more minced garlic and pepper. Oooh, maybe even some red pepper or a touch of cayenne for a kick!