The Minimalist Cooks Dinner (16 page)
Read The Minimalist Cooks Dinner Online
Authors: Mark Bittman
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
About 1½ pounds sea scallops
Salt
Pinch cayenne
⅓ cup roughly chopped almonds, skin on
¾ cup dry white wine
Chopped parsley leaves, optional
Combine the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large, preferably nonstick, skillet and turn the heat to medium-high. Sprinkle the scallops with salt and a bit of cayenne. When the butter foam subsides, add the scallops to the skillet, one at a time (or all at once if you’re using bay scallops), and turn the heat to high. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until brown on one side, then turn and brown the other side for another 1 to 2 minutes. (Scallops are best when rare in the center; if you like them better done, cook for another couple of minutes.)
Remove the scallops to a plate and keep warm. Add the nuts to the skillet and, still over high heat, cook, stirring, until dark brown, just a minute or two. Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced to a syrup, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. When it has thickened the sauce, pour over the scallops, garnish with parsley, and serve.
| WINE | Decent Bordeaux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or Meritage or Cabernet from California |
| SERVE WITH | Bread, rice, another cooked grain, polenta, or Mashed Potatoes , along with Simple Green Salad or Steamed Broccoli (or Other Vegetable) |
IF YOU CAN
find the rare (and shockingly expensive) true bay scallops from Nantucket or Long Island, by all means use them, but reduce the cooking time for the smaller bays. Do not, however, try this dish with the tiny calico scallops which, despite your best efforts, will overcook before they brown.
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Walnuts and pecans work just as well as almonds; both add beautiful color and wonderful texture.
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Use red wine in place of white; the color will be even deeper, the flavor richer, and the wine pairing easier.
with Scallops
TIME:
40 minutes
MAKES:
4 servings
The perfect whole-meal salad features as much flavor, texture, and bulk as any other well-prepared meal, and the fact that the base is a pile of greens makes me feel like I’m getting away with something. This one takes about 10 minutes longer to prepare than a plain green salad, and, by changing the topping, can be made in different ways every time, always with a minimum of effort. My first choice for topping this salad is grilled scallops—they’re almost ludicrously fast and easy, and their texture and flavor complement both greens and dressing.
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup rice wine or other vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame tahini or smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne, or ground chile powder, or to taste
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon peeled and chopped ginger
1½ to 2 pounds sea scallops Salt
6 to 8 cups mesclun or any salad greens, washed and dried
¼ cup torn Thai or other basil, optional
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Prepare a gas or charcoal grill. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, tahini, sesame oil, red pepper, honey, garlic, and ginger in a blender and purée until smooth. When the grill is hot, sprinkle the scallops with salt and grill them for about 2 minutes per side; they should remain tender and undercooked in the middle.
Combine the greens and basil and divide among four plates. When the scallops are done, top the greens with them, then drizzle with the dressing; sprinkle with the sesame seeds, and serve.
| WINE | Just-off-dry Gewürztraminer or Riesling, either from Germany or the Pacific Northwest, or good beer |
| SERVE WITH | Crisp Pan-Fried Noodle Cake or savory rice-based pancakes |
THE TIMING OF
this recipe is one of its real beauties. Start the grill (or heat a pan on top of the stove), and, while it’s heating, make the dressing and wash the greens. When all else is ready, grill the scallops. It all works seamlessly, and incredibly quickly.
USE A BLENDER
for the dressing; it makes quick work of dispersing the sesame paste or peanut butter throughout the liquid ingredients—something that can be a real hassle with a fork or a whisk—creating a perfect emulsion. Because the blender purées the garlic and ginger, there’s no need to mince them; just peel, chop roughly, and drop them into the blender with the other ingredients.
YOU NEED NOT GRILL
the scallops. They can be cooked on top of the stove in a grill pan or regular skillet; if you use a nonstick skillet you can cook with no oil at all.
TOAST SESAME SEEDS
in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until they darken, about 5 minutes.
Triple Sesame Salad with Shrimp, Steak, or Chicken:
Shrimp and steak are also great on these greens, as is boneless chicken—preferably thighs, which have better flavor than breasts and are less likely to dry out over the heat of the grill.
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Use any greens mix you like, although a pre-made, prewashed mesclun is obviously the easiest.
Red Wine Sauce
TIME:
1 to 1¼ hours, largely unattended
MAKES:
4 servings
This is my favorite dish using this plentiful but still-underappreciated cephalopod. (The term, which is also used for octopus and cuttlefish, describes sea creatures whose “feet” grow from their heads.) Like many people, I’m a fan of fried “calamari,” but that dish is best suited to restaurants because of squid’s tendency to spatter when deep-fried. Although sautéing or stir-frying are good, fast techniques for squid, they, too, tend to be messy. A gentle braise in flavorful liquid and seasonings is the perfect alternative, and this one, with its Provençal spirit, is delicious and warming.
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, crushed
2 pounds cleaned squid, the bodies cut up if large
1 cup fruity red wine, like
Côtes du Rhône
Several sprigs fresh thyme, or
1 teaspoon dried Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Put 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the squid and stir, then lower the heat and add the wine. Stir, add the thyme, and cover.
Cook at a slow simmer until the squid is tender, about 45 minutes. Uncover, season to taste, raise the heat, and cook until most but not all of the liquid is evaporated, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, garnish with the parsley if using, and serve.
| WINE | Whatever you use for cooking |
| SERVE WITH | 60-Minute Bread or good store-bought bread, or polenta; Sautéed Shiitake Mushrooms , and/or Simple Green Salad |
ALMOST ALL SQUID
is sold so clean it just needs a quick rinse to be ready for cutting up and cooking; some of it is even sold cut into rings. To make it even more convenient, squid, like shrimp, is one of those rare seafoods whose quality barely suffers when frozen, so you can safely tuck a 2-pound bag into the freezer and let it sit for a month or two, defrosting it the day you’re ready to cook. (Like shrimp, it will defrost quickly and safely when covered with cold water.)
Squid in Red Wine Sauce with Potatoes:
Add some crisp sautéed potatoes or croutons of bread to the finished dish for a contrasting texture.
Squid in Red Wine Sauce with Tomatoes:
Add a few chopped tomatoes (canned are fine) to make the sauce a bit thicker and more plentiful (in which case, you might as well serve the dish over pasta).
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Add fennel seeds or crushed red chiles to alter the flavor entirely.
ROAST FISH WITH CRISP POTATOES, OLIVES, AND BAY LEAVES
FISH SIMMERED IN SPICY SOY SAUCE
ROAST SALMON STEAKS WITH PINOT NOIR SYRUP
ROAST SALMON WITH SPICY SOY OIL
TUNA OR SWORDFISH WITH ONION CONFIT
