When looking over this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe, I was a bit nervous. Before this meal, I'd only had scallops when eating a mixed seafood dish, and they were always chewy or rubbery. I consulted with Mr. Hobby, and he encouraged me to try making the scallops, but not the whole pound. Fair enough. I went to the local grocer and purchased 1/2 pound of fresh sea scallops at $14.99 a pound (ouch! Midwest seafood prices) and 1/2 pound peeled and deveined wild gulf shrimp. This was my first wild gulf shrimp purchase since the unfortunate Gulf Oil spill last April.
Doire recommends the spiced butter-glazed carrots as a side dish for the scallops. Since I missed making this recipe in December, I decided to do double-Dorie for the dinner. The carrots presented me with the challenge of purchasing cardamon from the local international grocery store. The clerk was so funny, after she told me my total was $7 for the small spice bag she exclaimed "Oh! Cardamon expensive." I agreed with her, as this was shaping up to be an expensive dinner.
Unfortunately, when I started to make the dinner I realized that my camera battery was about to die. I decided to save the strength for the finished products, so I don't have any other pictures. In fact, I snapped the plated food shot, and then the camera died before I could even see how it turned out, it reminded me of taking a picture with film cameras. I crossed my fingers that the shot had turned out, and dug into dinner.
My first bite of scallop was to die for! I loved every bite after that. The scallops and shrimp went together wonderfully. The sauce was absolutely amazing. My sauce color was a little light, and it may not have been as think either, but the taste was amazing. The leftover sauce was poured on biscuits, what a treat! The carrots were pretty good, but I wouldn't have paired them with this dish. They had their own destinct flavor, and I think the dish would've been better served with a sauceless vegetable. I would've loved some asparagus (like in the Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours
photo) to run through the wonderful sauce.Once again, FFwD challenged me to step out of my comfort zone, try new foods and new techniques. The result was a dish that we both loved, and can't wait to enjoy again!
I hope the other bloggers at FFwD enjoyed this as well. You can find out about their experiences at French Fridays with Dorie!
Whew! So glad you got at least one photo :)
ReplyDeleteI loved this dish, too...in fact, it's one of my favorite from the cookbook so far!
That's a great idea to add some shrimp--my scallops were pretty expensive too and that would have helped stretch out the yummy sauce.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. This is a nice dish to have in your arsenal for a "treat".
ReplyDeleteDon't you hate it when the camera doesn't cooperate?
I'm excited to try this dish again with shrimp! And, kudos for making two ffwD dishes in one meal!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm glad you liked this. I almost combined scallops and shrimp too, but decided to just go with the scallops (my scallop-"haters" decided that they didn't hate after all). I served them with the carrots as well. I'm inclined to agree, plus the sauces ended up mixing together. But we enjoyed the dinner, and I'm glad you did too. Also, great that your camera held out for you. Looks good!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you learned something new with these two recipes!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed this dish. What a great idea to mix up the seafood…shrimp and scallops…delicious!
ReplyDeleteBiscuits with sauce! That's awesome!
ReplyDeleteLooks wonderful. I'm glad everything worked out with your meal!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad it was worth the expense! I've never made shrimp! You're genius to mix it up!
ReplyDeleteBoy, I thought our scallops were expensive. Ouch. So glad that you tried and also that you have a hubby who is "game" for testing by trying half the recipe. I did the same because I had sticker shock myself. Loved the recipe and how shockingly simple such a "fancy" dish turned out to be. Now if scallops ever go on sale.....
ReplyDeleteI loved that this recipe gave me an excuse to buy scallops! I went with half a pound too. I don't know why I didn't think of using the sauce on other things. Adriana @ greatfood360 used hers on ice cream. I'm sure they it was delicious on biscuits too.
ReplyDeleteYeah that is expensive. I'm glad you got to try this one.
ReplyDeleteMy camera inevitably dies when I'm at an event and didn't think ahead enough to bring extras.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you tried the carrots, too, though they didn't go very well with the scallops. It's one of those recipes that surprises you with its deliciousness.
The scallops are expensive, but are such a wonderful treat. Wonderful idea to add shrimp!
That's what I love about this group too. Every Friday I get to try recipes I wouldn't make on my own and so far I've loved each one of them :)
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