Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good idea of what I wanted to do with them. Searching for recipes didn’t turn up anything that really floated my boat and most recipes I could find on the net were for sea scallops. Sea scallops of course are much bigger than bay scallops so they lend themselves well to things like breading and frying but bay scallops usually just turn into very expensive and soggy balls of fishy goo if you do that to them. We’re very anti-fishy goo in this house. Thus there they’ve sat in the back of my freezer taunting me, “We’re damn expensive and delicious, and you’re still not eating us!”

Now, I’ve been doing of lot of rather meat intensive dishes of late (meat loaf, meat ball sandwiches, meat roast, vegetable meat soup…) so it seemed a good time to give my arteries a rest and maybe do something a bit lighter. And being really hungry I was also feeling quite impatient and, dare I say, reckless so I threw caution to the wind and thawed out the scallops deciding I’d just throw something together. Edible or not, it would get eaten. But my gamble paid off and handsomly, allowing you, dear reader, to benefit from my careless ways..

As with all my unrecipes, please don’t take measurements or even ingredients as gospel. I don’t really measure things most nights I”m cooking and whatever I list here are just approximations. Don’t want so much garlic? Cut it down. Want it fishier or richer? Add more scallops or butter. Substitute fake crab meat for the scallops and rigatoni for the pasta if you want, and add a little heavy cream to the sauce. Hell, make a yucky face and order a pizza if you want. It’s all good.

Bay Scallops and Sea Shells in a Light Lemon-Dill Sauce Unrecipe
Ingredients

• 1 lb. medium shell pasta, cooked and drained
• 1.5 lbs. bay scallops, well-drained and patted dry
• 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1.5 cups chicken stock or bouillon
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1.5 tsp. dried dill
• 1 – 2 Tbsp. butter

Preparation

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan on high heat
2. Sautee garlic about a minute just till it turns light brown
3. Add in scallops and toss to coat with oil, let cook for about two minutes (If you can get yours to brown, you’re a better cook than I)
4. Stir, and allow to cook a couple of minutes more
5. Add in chicken stock/bouillon and lemon juice and allow to come to a boil
6. Reduce heat to a simmer
7. Add in parsley and dill, giving a stir to distribute evenly (ooo… pretty…)
8. Let scallops and broth/bouillon mixture continue to simmer until reduced by about half the volume (about six to ten minutes)
9. Add butter, and stir until melted
10. Toss with pasta shells and enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Pan Fried Salmon with Lemon-Dill Sauce
2. Squash Pasta with a light Rosemary-Garlic Butter Sauce
3. Chilled Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad

I adapted this recipe from several I found around the net, adjusting the ingredients to our tastes. As I made it, the shrimp have a very strong flavor to them and not everybody likes that so feel free to make your own adjustments. And for heaven’s sake, enjoy it with a small shot of rum. We won’t tell your boss.

Rum Scampi
Ingredients

• 1 lb. frozen, precooked, shrimp, thawed
• Tabasco sauce to taste
• 1/2 cup rum
• 1 1/2 tbsp. lime juice
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 2 (3 oz.) packets shrimp flavored ramen noodles
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 – 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tbsp. dried parsley
• Pepper to taste

Preparation

• Pull the little bits of tail shell off the shrimp, place the shrimp in a large bowl and then give them a nice rub down in as much Tabasco sauce as you like. I used quite a bit, enough to thoroughly coat the shrimp.
• For the marinade, whisk together the rum, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce and cumin in a separate smaller bowl.
• Pour the marinade on top of the shrimp, making sure the shrimp are covered.
• Refrigerate the shrimp and marinade for at least an hour, but three or four hours is better. I let the shrimp party all night long.
• Boil some water, and cook the ramen noodles until done (just about 3 min).
• Drain the noodles, and stir in the tablespoon of margarine or butter
• Add the contents of the two shrimp flavored seasoning packets and mix well. Set noodles aside.
• Melt the 2-3 tbsp. butter in a large skillet
• As soon as the butter is frothy, add the shrimp to the skillet, reserving the marinade
• Saute the shrimp on high heat about 10 minutes to bring out their color
• Add in about 1/2 the reserved marinade, along with the garlic powder and dried parsley
• Allow the sauce to reduce to about 1/2 its’ volume (about 5-10 minutes)
• Add in about 1/2 of the rest of the marinade and allow the sauce to reduce to maybe 3/4 of its’ volume (another 5-10 minutes)
• When the sauce has reduced, or you can’t stand to wait any longer and have to eat right that instant, toss in the ramen noodles to coat them with the sauce. Cook an additional minute to make sure the ramen noodles are reheated, add pepper to taste and serve.

Related posts:

1. Why don’t we do this more often? (Shrimp and Pineapple Curry)
2. Chilled Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad
3. East Meets West Chicken

Anyway, dear reader, I’m sure that you’re not stupid and you’ll want to make this recipe and Leo’s hearty crockpot fish stew over and over again. We love this shrimp dish (from the Thai: Simple and Delicious Easy-to-Make Recipes book by Lesley Mackley) for its sweet and spicy sauce and because one out of two children at my house will eat it. You can put it over 1-2-3-4 Rice or just serve it with instant rice or bread.

Shrimp and Pineapple Curry

(about 10 minutes to prep, 10-15 minutes to cook; serves 4)

Ingredients

• 2 cups coconut cream (1 can)
• ½ fresh pineapple, peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp. Thai red curry paste
• 2 tbsp. fish sauce
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 12 oz raw tiger shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, to decorate
• steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Preparation

1. Place the coconut cream, pineapple, curry paste, fish sauce and sugar in a skillet.
2. Heat gently over a medium heat until almost boiling.
3. Add the shrimp and cilantro and simmer gently for 3 minutes or until the shrimp are cooked.
4. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

What we actually did: we used coconut milk (and not even real coconut milk, it was from concentrate!), a can of pineapple, brown sugar and precooked shrimp. Oh yeah, we also used parsley instead of cilantro coz someone finds cilantro to be too “fuzzy” and “forgot” to buy it. But I’m not bitter.

I was surprised to find the coconut milk and the curry paste in the international aisle of Meier’s. The fish sauce I got at an Asian grocery.

Related posts:

1. Chilled Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad
2. Rum Scampi
3. When Good Foods Go Bad – Part 2

In fact, now that I think about it, this may have been the very first meal I ever made for Catherine. I don’t think I’ll forget the look of surprise and delight as she walked in the door and the warm, fishy aroma first hit her, or the look of joy that overtook her face on first tasting it. As I said above, Catherine and I both go nuts for this time-saving stew which leads me to wonder why I waited almost a whole year to make it again.

I mean, really, why don’t we make this more often? It’s so simple to make that you can chop up everything the night before, fry up the bacon and onion the next morning and toss it all in the crockpot before you leave for work. By the time you come home, you’ve got a wonderful, tasty and satisfying home-cooked meal that beats the pants off any pizza. And if you knew how much I love pizza, you’d know how strong of a statement that is.

You’ll want to serve your stew with your favorite cheap beer and a nice crusty bread to sop up the soup left at the bottom of your bowl.

Hearty Crockpot Fish Stew
Ingredients

• 2 lbs. fish (flounder tastes great, but almost any oldfish will do), chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 4 med. potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 lb. bacon, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 med. onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp. dried parsley
• 3 tsp. garlic pepper salt
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 (8 oz.) can evaporated milk

Preparation

1. Chop up your fish, bacon, onion and potatoes.
2. Throw the potatoes, fish, and mushrooms into the crockpot and add the water.
3. Saute the bacon and onion together until the bacon is just this side of crisp and the onion is golden and transluscent.
4. Spoon the bacon, onion and bacon grease on top of the fish, potatoes and mushrooms.
5. Add seasonings.
6. Give everything a good stir or two so everybody gets acquainted.
7. Put the lid on and cook on low six to eight hours or on high four to five hours.
8. Stir the evaporated milk in about an hour before eating if cooking on low, or a half hour if cooking on high.

Related posts:

1. Friday Night Fish Fry at Ya Boy – The Way the Good Lord Intended
2. Our favorite lumpy garlic mashed potatoes
3. Who says you can never go home again?

The key to summer cooking is to cook for as short as possible, do it as early in the day as possible, then forget about it and spend the rest of the day competing with the dog for the primo spot on the sofa right next to the A/C vent. This recipe fits the bill. To its advantage, it happens to be quite tasty too and literally takes under a half hour to make (including the time it takes the water to come to a boil). Now move over dog, it’s my turn!

Chilled Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 16 oz. fettucine, cooked, drained and cooled
• 16 oz. medium shrimp, peeled, deveined (frozen cocktail shrimp work great!)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
• 1/2 cup fresh parsely, chopped
• 1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper (or to taste)

Preparation

1. Toss the shrimp and lemon juice in a large bowl (I do this ahead of time and refrigerate to allow the shrimp to soak up the lemony goodness)
2. Mix everything else together, except the pasta
3. Toss the mayonnaise mix with the fettucine and shrimp
4. Cover and refrigerate salad, 1 to 2 hours

Related posts:

1. Why don’t we do this more often? (Shrimp and Pineapple Curry)
2. DIY Casa Salad?
3. Bay Scallops and Sea Shells in a Light Lemon-Dill Sauce Unrecipe

It doesn’t have to be complicated either. Just like in love, a plain and simple screw is exactly what you need once in a while. So it goes that sometimes the simplest meals are the best ones. Last night was like this. All we did was pan fry some salmon that had been hanging out in the freezer and served it with this uncomplicated and unpresuming lemon-dill sauce that I threw together at lunch time. On the side we had steamed asparagus because asparagus was on sale this week and I bought a mountain of it (we both love the pointy green veggie).

And you know what? The lemon-dill sauce was as good on the asparagus as it was on the fish.So here’s the recipe, but by all means, don’t feel like you have to restrict this sauce to just fish. I imagine it’d be just as good on some chicken, pork or beef. And if you don’t have a lemon to grate, don’t worry! Remember, we’re keeping it simple here and it’s going to taste as good whether you use bottled lemon juice or the real deal.

Pan Fried Salmon with Lemon-Dill Sauce
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried dill
• 1 tsp. grated lemon rind
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Enough salmon to make you feel full (the fish should be at room temperature before frying)
• Garlic-pepper salt to taste
• 1-2 tbsp. peanut oil

Sauce Preparation

1. To prepare the sauce, simply whisk the first six ingredients together until the sauce is nice and smooth. Add salt and pepper as you see fit and give it a final couple of go-rounds with the whisk.
2. Refrigerate the sauce for a couple of hours before serving although feel free to make this the night before.

Fish Preparation

1. To cook the fish, first rub it with as much garlic-pepper salt as you think you’ll like
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet on high
3. Fry the salmon skin-side down first for 3-4 minutes
4. Flip the salmon and fry the other side another 2-4 minutes until the flesh should is firm and flaky
5. And you’re done! Serve with lemon-dill sauce splashed over the top

Related posts:

1. Bay Scallops and Sea Shells in a Light Lemon-Dill Sauce Unrecipe
2. Quick’N'Easy Creamy Peanut Sauce
3. Chilled Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad