I cooked: Pan seared scallops with sauteed mushrooms and truffle oil

Those that know me or have been following my blog will know that one of my favorite food is scallops! I love the jumbo scallops that I usually get at Favola and Prime at Le Meridien KL - big and juicy!

A (plate of) scallop a day keeps Baby Sumo a happy girl..

I have been searching for fresh scallops to buy in supermarkets and also the wet market but to no avail. If anyone knows where I can buy fresh ones, please let me know! So, one day I found these rather large scallops in the supermarket but they were frozen. I was craving for scallops so I thought why not try them out. Do make sure that you defrost them properly and then pat them dry with a kitchen towel before searing them on high heat in the pan. Do not overcook them as they will shrink in size and also become slightly rubbery, the cooking time depends on the size of the scallops. Furthermore scallops are quite delicate and require very little cooking time. (If you visit a French restaurant, you will find that that their scallops are usually barely cooked so 1 minute cooking time each side is sufficient - but this is also highly dependent on personal preference)

I found the frozen scallops to be decent, but of course if you can get your hands on fresh ones, that's the way to go. I love mushrooms, so I paired the scallops with a melange of mushrooms - I used grey oyster, buna-shimeji and button mushrooms. You can use any type of mushrooms that you like including shitake and enoki. A dash of truffle oil completes this dish - perfect as a starter to your mea! l.

Another way of serving the scallops is to serve them with a summer garden salad. The recipe for the saladcan be found here- all you need to do is top the salad with the pan seared scallops. I do prefer the first way of serving them with mushrooms better.

Pan seared scallops with sauteed mushrooms
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5-10 minutes
Serves 4-5

Ingredients
1 pack of scallops, preferably fresh (approx. 20 no)
1 pack of buna-shimeji mushrooms, ends cut off
200g grey oyster mushrooms, sliced thinly
100g button mushrooms, sliced thinly
4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, totaste
Truffle oil
Chives, finely chopped for garnishing

1. Heat 2-3 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan. Put in all the mushrooms and saute for 3-4 minutes, until cooked thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper. (You can cook the scallops at the same time)

2. Meanwhile, clean the scallops and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Season the scallops on one side with salt and pepper.

2. Heat about 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan. Make sure the pan is piping hot before you put the scallops in. You want to have a nice sear on the scallops to seal in the juices.

3.Put the scallops in, seasoned side down in a clockwise direction. This is merely for convenience sake so that you know which scallop went in first for timi! ng purpo ses. Cook the scallops for about 1 - 2 minutes on each side, depending on the size of the scallop and the amount of sear you want on the scallop. Be careful not to overcook them as it will become rubbery when overcooked. While cooking the first side, you can season the other side of the scallop with salt and pepper. (You can cook them in 2 separate rounds if you can't manage all in 1 minute)

4. To plate, place the mushrooms on the plate and add a dash of truffle oil. Top with 5 scallops per plate and then garnish with chives. Serve immediately.

A hit with both kids and adults in our household :)

Recipe for salad here.

Pan seared scallops served with salad with olive balsamic dressing and pumpkin seeds

Colorful!

What's your favourite way of eating scallops? Would love to hear from you.

Being French means

That I was brought up surrounded by apple, apricot, strawberry, myrtille, mirabelle, quetscheand cherry fruit tarts.

Each one of them has a flavor that brings tons of delicious memories about France. And the French countryside where I grew up.

Gluten Free Cherry Tart

I will come back with the recipe. But before then, I am, too, enjoying a slice of the tart with a glass of sparkling rhubarb spritzer.

broccoli parmesan fritters

Last week, it was pointed out to me that among the 750 recipes in the archives, there is but a single recipe that utilizes broccoli. Just one! (Its a great one, though.) For comparison, there are 11 recipes that use cauliflower and 26 with mushrooms. What terrible oversight could have led to this? I buy broccoli (and its friends) approximately once a week, year-round but this wasnt always the case. I never disliked broccoli Im not this guy but it wasnt until my toddler took a great interest in chomping down on huge florets, raw, cooked, or three days old, that it became part of our regular rotation.

Please understand: this is not one of those stories about how preciously advanced my toddlers tastes are, how early he took an interest in foie gras and how he turns his nose up at white flour pastas, preferring farro. Oh no. It is, in fact, the opposite. Lets say you! called me on the phone day you know, presuming we lived on a planet where people still spoke on the phone and said My toddler! He eats nothing but macaroni and cheese and graham crackers! How do I get him to eat vegetables? I would respond, without blinking twice: Fritters. Except my enthusiasm for fritters is so great that it would come out FRITTERS! in the background, Id be doing jazz hands, and in my head, there would be Rockettes singing and high-kicking to this tune that I promise to never sing for you in person that goes, Fritterrrrrrrrs! Fritters are the answer! Lets definitely never speak about this part again.

... Read the rest of broccoli parmesan fritters on smittenkitchen.com

smitten kitchen 2006-2012. |permalink to broccoli parmesan fritters | 13 comments to date | see more: Broccoli, Photo, Side Dish, Snack, Summer, Vegetarian

SF: e.g. Conference Day 2

Grits, a Southern US dish made of coarsely ground corn, was new to us and Yi didn't like it because it was so bland but I liked it because it balanced the saltiness in the accompanying dishes.


During the breaks, we had small bites such as seafood ceviche on endive cups, prosciutto with rock melon, asparagus with goat's cheese (yum!) but I was too shy to stop the waiters for photos.

The second day of the conference.We were specifically told that the dress code was casual (it being California), which was great because the last thing a conference on innovativeness was prim and proper formality. I wore a dress on the second day because I saw other ladies in dresses despite the cold.I had noticed a particular lady when we were waiting to register yesterday because she was wearing beautiful black heels, a black fur cape and carrying a black Hermes bag. I was at the buffet table on the second day when I heard the waiter say "You are a princess?!" and I looked at her card and it said 'Princess ...K...'. She lives in NYC, she said, and she definitely dressed like a New Yorker.

I enjoyed every presentation except maybe the one where the presenter who overshot his time. Ellsworth Wareham, a cardiac surgeon in his 90s, gave a great talk on how to live ! long. Ro z Savage's presentation left me in tears. She is the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. When I watched the videos of her rowing alone in a small boat in the stormy seas, it just made me wonder how some people can be so brave and resilient. Philip Sheppard, a cellist and professor at The Royal Academy of Music in London, gave an amazing performance and spoke about his task of rescoring the national anthems of 205 countries for the upcoming Olympics. I was proud for Singapore when the architect Moshe Safdie presented on the Marina Bay Sands. During the break later, I overheard a lady say to my daughter how she longed to visit Asian and Singapore, especially after Safdie's presentation, I can't tell you how awesome the presenters were; you'd have to be there to experience it.


12-year old pianist, Victoria Young.


Charles Yang on violin, Mike Hawley on piano and Philip Sheppard on the cello.




Three photography studios of different styles were on hand to take photos of the pres! enters ( and non-presenters, after the presenters were done). This one was where futuristic props were used.


Tin plate photography, resulting in beautiful, interesting and antique-looking photos. Wish I had my photo done this way.


Conventional portraits.


I don't really get artichokes. They are not particuarly flavorful or tasty and are quite tough in fact. I equate it to how Chinese love bamboo, an equally tasteless and sometimes fibrous veggie.






There were always two soups and I love soups especially on cold days.


Told you, the Americans love red velvet cakes.

The conference ended a little bit late and we had about 1/2 hour before we rushed into the bus for a visit to the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium for a cocktail dinner (beautiful finger food & wine), sponsored by Nokia (we got two Nokia 800 smart phones as lucky surprise gifts!) in the museum, which was closed to the public to accomodate us. What a privilege! I left my camera behind in the hotel but here's a photo of jellyfishes taken with Hub's iPhone.

French restaurant created specifically for people with food allergies