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!
