Channeling my Inner Foodie

I've decided I need to embrace my ability to cook and bake. I'm not as bad at it as I think I am. I need to remember than when taking risks in the kitchen. Tonight, I tried two new dishes - a main course and a sweet bread for after super.

First - the main course Recipe

Spicy Scallops

2 heaping tablespoons of Mustard Powder
1 tablespoon Wasabi Powder
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons dried red chili flakes
2 minced cloves of garlic
2-4 tablespoons finely chopped scallions
1 - 2 tablespoons of good oil (peanut or olive oil)
12 Jumbo Scallops, muscles removed

I was cleaning out the freezer and found a small bag of shrimp in there that really needed to be used up. I honestly didn't think it wouldn't make too much of a difference. It didn't, but this recipe is way better with scallops, and next time I make it, trust me, I will be using scallops. I also used a regular onion instead of scallions, which really didn't make much of a difference.

First step is to combine the mustard powder, wasabi (I didn't have any, so didn't use it), sugar and dried red chili flakes in a shallow bowl and set aside. It looked awesome! The sugar gave it a great sheen, and it smelled really good. The wasabi powder would have given it an extra kick, but I had a feeling it would be spicy enough with out it.




In a large pan, I started to saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil. To make it taste a little richer, I added a good dollop of butter. How did I survive without butter? I used to always have margarine in the house, never butter, until I started to live with Punk Boy and my food experience has been greatly improved since then. My hips, not so much. I let the onions and garlic cook until soft. I love the way onions frying smell. So amazing.



After the onions and garlic reached the right point, I dredged the shrimp in the mustard mixture. Its important not to do this in advance, as the coating will become clumpy and just end up a mess. Only dredge as you are adding to the pan. I saute the shrimp for a few minutes on each side and started to get seriously disappointed as the coating never got crunchy as the recipe claimed it would. It stuck to the shrimp and cooked, but also became slightly sticky. I tried not to get frustrated and tended to the spaghetti noodles that I placed in big pot of boiling water and sea salt.

I think that is my main problem when cooking. When something doesn't turn out exactly how I think it should, I get upset. I need to roll with the punches. Just because my dish wasn't turning out exactly how I had hoped, doesn't mean its going to be a mess. I decided fuck it, I was going to make this work.

Once the shrimp were done, I removed them from the pan and put them in a warm metal dish (I filled it with hot water and dumped it, leaving the bowl nice and warm). To be honest, it looked disgusting. The coating wasn't sticking and did not crisp up the way I had hoped. I figured some Parmesan cheese would fix it, so sprinkled a good amount on top and waited for the pasta. Once the pasta was done, I drained it, added a touch of butter and then tossed it with the shrimp mess I just made.

After tossing with the pasta, the dish started to not look that bad. The coating that didn't stick on the shrimp got all mixed up with the pasta, onions, garlic and cheese and was tasty. The shrimp could have been better as they had been in the freezer too long, but tasted pretty good. I think the best part is I was able to make something pretty awesome with a few changes and some improvisation on my part. I'd do the dish again, for sure and would recommend the recipe to anyone, but would not use shrimp next time. Besides, I do like scallops better anyway.





For desert, I made this awesome strawberry banana loaf. I prepared it before cooking the shrimp and pasta dish and let it cook while making and eating supper.

Strawberry Banana Loaf

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 mashed bananas
1 cup (or more) of chopped strawberries.

I found three bananas and a little over a cup of frozen strawberries in the fridge that I wanted to use up. Every time I opened that stupid freezer door, those damn bananas would fall out and I'd do this crazy jumping dance to make sure they didn't hit my sensitive toes.

The bread is easy. Heat over to 350F. Mix all the dry ingredients in a small bowl, and all the wet ingredients in a larger bowl. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet and mix well. The frozen strawberries actually looked really fresh and ripe. The gave the mixture this pretty pink color. Also, if you are a lover of the sour cream, as I am, let me recommend the Olympic brand. It comes in a black container (green if you get organic) and is the best sour cream I've ever had - rich and thick.



So, once the mixture was together, I poured it slowly into a greased bread pan. The whole thing was popped in the oven and timer set for one hour. By the time we were finished dinner, the loaf was ready to be pulled out of the oven.

The idea is to let the loaf sit in the pan for about ten minutes, then flip it out carefully onto a cooling rack. I always slice the bread to early, but I love that warm, soft banana bread and the way the butter just melts even before contact. I cut into the thing way to early, but it was wonderful. The sour cream gave the loaf a more mild taste, cutting the banana flavor down a little bit. The strawberries were a great addition. The best part of the loaf is that our apartment smells amazing, like I slaved all day in the kitchen, when really it was just a few hours.

So the house didn't burn down, no one is sick and I feel some sense of accomplishment. Amazing, isn't it? I used to hate cooking. I was the type that would use my stove to store sweaters in the summer - no lie. Whats become of me? Do I mind it? Not really, to be honest. There is something intriguing in this whole process. We'll see how long this lasts...