Scalloped

So wasn't I a lucky duck! For my birthday (which was several months ago) my wife made me dinner! Usually it is a team effort around the house but this time I got to hang with the kids and let her have a go in the kitchen. The dish was scallops in a butter cream sauce. The cream component being creme fraiche.

First the scallops dredged in a flour.



A little bit of butter into the pan.

The floured scallops go into their nice little butter bath!

Just about 45 seconds or so per side over medium heat.

Out come the scallops and into the pan goes the creme fraiche, some more butter and some lemon juice.


Let the whole thing come to a boil to reduce.

Then add some salt and pepper, top with parsley and it is done!


She served this with a side of fettuccine and some steamed asparagus. This was a hit and certainly a dish that we could serve for company.

Surf and Turf

Not sure what happened on the way to to store but I must of lost my mind. Wikipedia has a definition of Surf and Turf a "menu is guided not by aesthetic concerns, but for the sake of vulgar display."

Sounds good to me

The menu was simple enough; Fillet, Alaskan King Crab Legs, shrimp, scallops and asparagus

Since I was making this up as I went along (note to self do not go to store hungry) I need to figure out how to pull it all together.

For the shrimp and scallops a salsa would go well. We had a half open jar of Green Mountain Gringo Salsa in the fridge. This would be a good base but I was not looking for an overwhelming spicy flavor so to the salsa I added some cucumber, orange juice, parsley, olive oil and some cherry tomatoes.



It is roughly about an inch and a half of an English cucumber that I skinned and chopped up for the salsa. The orange juice etc I added to taste and the olive oil help loosen the salsa up a bit.




You can actually see a little piece of the cucumber in right above the tip of the spoon.

The crab legs were already cooked, so I wrapped them in foil and put in a 300 degree oven.


The shrimp and scallops were gonna go on the grill at the last few moments of the fillet finishing. The asparagus was to also go on the grill. Washed, trimmed and wrapped in foil with a bit of sea salt, pepper and olive oil for about 5 minutes.

The beef while fillet was not center cut tenderloin, which is no bigger when it is just us. I actually do not mind this cut of the tenderloin as it has a bit more fat which means a bit more flavor. The problem with this cut is that it does need some trimming.


Once trimmed, they were tied, sprayed with Pam and salt and peppered. They had been sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes. From here they went onto a pre-heated grill for about 4-5 minutes a side.


Once I flipped them over to finish the other side I waited until about the last minute and then I added the seafood.


The shrimp were cooked until that nice reddish shrimp color and the scallops cooked for maybe 45 seconds or so a side.

All of it came off the grill roughly the same time. The fillet was cooked until an instant read was 125 and after resting the temp went up about 10 degrees to a perfect medium rare.

We plated up everything and put the salsa on the scallops and shrimp. The crab legs I broke into a bowl and ate plain.


I would certainly do this again for company. We actually bought the meat and seafood at Costco and the total price for everything was under $50, which I think is a deal. For company, I would probably make a whole tenderloin and then slice it up and serve it that way.