Bay Scallop Gratin - Review

I'm doing that desperate sad stare into the depths of the fridge. Then the freezer.  Then the pantry. Back to the fridge. What am I going to make for dinner?

I find a small bag of bay scallops hiding underneath the zesty fries in the freezer and do a quick search on Pinterest for a recipe. The first one that comes up is The Barefoot Contessa's Bay Scallop Gratin.  Wonder of wonders, I have all the ingredients (yeah, I've got prosciutto sitting in my meat drawer - I'd have used bacon if I didn't) so I give it a whirl. 45 minutes later I am eating one fine dinner.  This one is a winner. The gratin is a little fiddly but totally worth it.

I served it, as recommended, with a salad and some crusty bread. I'm lucky to have some of dad's home-made bread on hand; it's perfect for sopping up the leftover sauce in the gratin dish.  No hints on how to change it- it's great as is.

Salisbury Steak Meatballs - Review

I made the Salisbury Steak Meatballs from The Pioneer Woman. The flavors were definitely spot on although it's probably been 20 years since I've had Salisbury Steak. The meatballs had good flavor. They were a tad on the dry side - perhaps bread soaked in milk with Italian spices instead of the bread crumbs? But the gravy more than made up for it.

I made the entire recipe for two people so we had plenty of left-overs.  So today I chopped up some meatballs and added them and the gravy over french fries, some cheese, and a fried egg to make some awesome poutine!

Roasted Cod with Olives and Lemons - Review

Last night it was this recipe: Roasted Cod with Olives and Lemons from Real Simple.  It was certainly simple. I had some gorgeous black kalamata olives left over from a party, an open a bottle of wine (I had a semi-sweet Riesling), and zested a lemon. Dropped everything into a pot with 3 thick cod loin filets and some seasoning and just waited for the oven to go *ding*.

I WANTED to love this. Olives and lemon with fish and a little wine? What could go wrong? But the cod was not a good choice. The thick,  meaty, and slightly dry cod was tough going. It was perfectly cooked and flaked like a dream but it was just too much fish for a relatively delicate sauce.

Next Time: Definitely a different fish. Something oilier. Maybe tuna, chilean sea bass, or trout. Not whitefish. The recipe called for a drier wine but the Riesling worked fine. Oh, and maybe melt a little butter in the lemon/wine sauce to add some richness - the unctuousness of the olives was perfect but they could have used a little help.

Slow Cooker Carne Asada - Review

So last night I made the "Slow Cooker Carne Asada" from $5 Dollar Dinners. The reviews were favorable and I'm always fond of slow cooked beef and especially of carne asade.

The results were mixed. The beef was perfect especially if you're a pot roast fan.  I picked up 1 1/2lbs of thin inexpensive flank steak, slathered it with the recipe's paste and dropped it in the crockpot on low for about 10 hours. The meat was perfect. Super tender, all the fat rendered down. I shredded it and made this delightful pile of slow-roasted beef. I couldn't stop drooling.

I served the meat with some shredded fontina cheese, arugula, and a dollop of yogurt in a soft taco. Not bad, the yogurt was a great touch, the classier fontina could just as easily been montery jack.

Carne Asada, it ain't. It missed the zing that I associate with the lime-y sauce I put on my seared steak.  Although the original paste included a jalepeno hot enough to burn my skin, the resulting meat was quite mild.  It needed citrus and vinegar.

Next Time: It was so incredibly easy and inexpensive to cook this traditionally tough cut of meat. I would absolutely do this again in a crock pot. But I would probably use a different sauce, maybe adapt one of my favorite carne asada recipes, Tyler Florence's Mojo Marinade.

Mojo:
4 garlic cloves
minced 1 jalapeno
minced 1 large handful fresh cilantro leaves
finely chopped Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 limes, juiced
1 orange, juiced
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil