Tangled Branches: Satiated
riveting tales of how we sustain ourselves
Friday, September 15, 2006
Two Herb Night
Doesn't sound nearly as good as Three Herb Night, but I couldn't think of anything better at the moment.
Last night I made something I haven't made in a long time - Rosemary/Garlic-flavored Olive Oil for dipping. I used to make this all the time and then stopped. Don't know why, because it's easy and good. Here's how. Take about 3 4-inch sprigs of rosemary. Strip the leaves off and put them in a small microwaveable bowl. Thinly slice a clove of garlic and add it to the bowl. Pour about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of olive oil in. Microwave on medium power (i.e. mine goes from 1 to 9 and I used 5) for 30 seconds. You want the rosemary and garlic to release their flavor, but not to cook. Let it cool a bit. Sit down with a loaf of good crusty bread and some nice wine and eat and drink. You could grind some black pepper over the oil. We usually do that with plain olive oil, but didn't this time. I think this oil would make an admirable base for a vinaigrette (for a potato salad, say), but I've never tried it.
Lemon Basil was herb number two last night; the only seasoning herb in Scallops with Corn & Tomato. First I cooked 2 thick slices of bacon in a frying pan. Removed the bacon, but left the drippings. Added some chopped red onion to the pan and cooked it until it started to brown around the edges. Added frozen sweet corn and stirred until the corn was heated through. Added some chopped tomato and a good amount of chopped lemon basil. How much is a good amount? I don't know because I didn't measure it, but I would guess it was about 2 tablespoons or more. Continued cooking until the tomatoes released their juice and started to look cooked. In retrospect, I should have cooked the tomatoes for somewhat less time. Added salt and pepper. Removed the corn-tomato mixture to a bowl. Wiped out the skillet with a paper towel, and added some olive oil and butter. Heated this on "high" heat (my electric range really doesn't get very hot) until the butter was sizzling. Added thawed frozen scallops. Cooked them until browned on both sides and seasoned with salt and pepper. Scallops are kind of tricky. The current fashion is to leave them raw in the middle, but I don't really care for that texture. My goal was to have them seared brown outside and just barely cooked through. If you overcook them, they're no good either. I placed the scallops on the plate and mounded the corn-tomato mixture in artsy little dollops around the scallops. Then I crumbled the bacon over the top (remember the bacon?), and served it.
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