Lemon smoked scallops with kale and seared sweet peppers

Foodies, I apologize for the long layoff, but in my defense I’ve been busy over at:

http://www.shunpwrites.com

When you have a chance feel free to take a gander.

For the purposes of this pescatarian endeavor you’ll need the following:

For roughly 2 servings you’ll need the following:

1/2 lb of Sea Scallops
4 cloves of garlic
4 sweet peppers
A cup of white mushrooms
1/4 of a sweet onion
3 cups of fresh kale
1 cup of quinoa
1/4 cup of Bragg Liquid Amino.

The key component of this recipe is cooking the ingredients in batches.

You can prep your scallops a couple hours before:

Add 2 tablespoons of Liquid Smoke and lemon juice.

Add rosemary and dill until lightly covered, shake and set in the fridge tightly covered.

Thinly slice your onion, garlic and quarter your peppers, add a 1/4 tablespoon of grapeseed oil and mix in a small bowl.

Add to high heat continously mixing until carmelized, remove and set aside, a medium sized skillet is best.

Follow with the mushrooms, 3 minutes stirring vigorously – set aside.

Add the cut and cleaned kale, cook until the kale is a bright green color, mixing continually. This will take roughly 3 to 4 minutes over high heat.

Set aside.

Quinoa is an easy fix, 1 cup of quinoa for 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer until all of the water dissolves, which is about 10 – 15 minutes (You can prep this before or use leftover quinoa, which is what I did for this recipe).

Add the scallops to the skillet, scoop them out of the marinade, don’t dump it.

2 minutes each side, remove and set aside.

Add all of the ingredients to a warm skillet and mix for 2 minutes, you just want to warm and marry the flavors and 1/4 cup of Bragg Liquid Aminos.

Add your quinoa to a bowl covering the bottom and layer it with the kale and your sweet peppers and add your scallops

Then…

Enjoy!

Lemon cilantro scallops with peppered Kale

I apologize for the layoff, it hasn’t been for lack of appetite, but I fully intend to bring everyone back up to speed on my exploits in the kitchen and some of the marriages of contrasts.

Scallops are one of my favorite seafood items, especially sea scallops, they get the nod over the smaller bay variety.

Overwhelming them with a marinade is a danger best avoided.

For the purposes of this recipe:

3/4lb of sea scallops, rinsed.
1 1/2 cups of brown rice
3 cups of fresh kale (3 large leafs), cut
1 large cajun belle pepper
3 garlic cloves
1 half shallot
1 cup of mushroom stock

Rinse scallops in cold water

Let the scallops sit in the marinade for a half hour, place in the refrigerator while prepping the other ingredients.

For the marinade:

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons of the following:
Fennel
Cilantro
Tarragon

and

Tumeric.

Prepping the kale, cut rinse and wash. I like to use 1/4 of baking soda in cleaning them.

I mention the roll cut technique in previous recipes. After draining the water I add the kale to a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of peanut oil, toss and add to a pre-heated skillet.

Give it about 4 minutes on medium heat.

And…

Garlic, shallots and a cajun belle pepper

Turn your attention to the savory portion of the recipe. This is what will add the bite, slice don’t mince.

At the 4 minute mark add them to the kale in a pile and let them carmelize before stirring them together. Remove from the heat and set aside after a total of 7-8 minutes – don’t overcook.

The scallop part of the recipe is easy.

Add a layer of peanut oil… Using the same skillet that you removed the kale from is an option.

Pour the mixture in its entirety into the skillet.

Two minutes each side – and it’s a wrap, overcooked scallops are tough and terrible.

Remove and take one to the head, you’ve earned it.

The tumeric and lemon juice gives it a glow.

Mix the brown rice with the kale and pepper garnish that was set aside earlier and call it dinner.

In all this should equate to 15 minutes prep time and 11 – 12 cooking time.

Bon Appétit!

Lemon basil Broiled Salmon

The challenge that I always have with basil is that I allow it to lanquish.

I made it a goal not to let it happen again.

I had a good grouping of leftover ingredients to pair with some salmon steaks that I thawed out.

For the purposes of this recipe:

2/3 cup of chopped fresh basil.
2 lemons squeezed
1 red chili pepper
3 cloves of garlic

Layer a pan with aluminum foil and spray with canola oil, lightly.

Finely chop the basil, garlic, red pepper and add the lemon juice to the salmon steaks.

The lemon juice will balance out the heat of the hot pepper. Cover and put in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from the marinade and place the salmon steaks in the pan.

Add the chopped ingredients on top of the steaks.

After placing in the oven on broil cook for 7 minutes, flip the steaks and cook for another 7 minutes.

The fish will still be moist and flaky…

I paired the steak with some red rice, roasted potatoes and green beans… You can reference my prior recipes for the broiled potato and green bean bake.

Enjoy!

2 vegetable Shrimp in lemon simmer sauce

It started innocently enough. I had the orphaned remnants of a red pepper, red and green onion along with a couple of cloves of garlic. I sliced them thinly with the intention of carmelizing them in some coconut oil.

Upon further research I had a head of broccoli, half container of baby spinach, a small amount of Beyond Meat chicken strips and an opened bag of raw shrimp.

I was certain I could join all of these ingredients in holy culinary matrimony.

So I had at it.

I sautéed the spinach in the coconut oil first. Roughly 3 to 5 minutes under medium heat, making sure not to overcook it and setting it aside.

Cutting the broccoli into bite sized pieces, tossing it in coconut oil and roasting it in the oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes was the course of action I took for it.

In the meantime marinating the shrimp in some lemon juice and dill.

After removing the spinach from the oil, I added the chopped pepper, onion and garlic mixture.

Letting it carmelize will take 3 to 4 minutes.

After removing the broccoli from the oven place the mixture on top of the broccoli and set it aside.

Lightly layer the pan with the oil and add the shrimp. Cook 3 minutes each and remove.

I had a lemon simmer sauce that I brought to a rolling boil.

Adding all of the ingredients to the sauce brought it to closure. Viola!

Lemon baked cod with green beans & pearled couscous

Preheat the oven at 400 degrees.

Start with squeezing of lemons, set the juice to the side and use the rinds to make lemon zest. A grater like the one below should be ideal.

Set aside.

You’ll need 3 to 4 pieces of cod.

1 cup of lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic
2 sheaths of leeks
1 cup of bread crumbs in a shallow pan.

Mince the leeks and garlic.

Add the chopped leeks and garlic to the cod and the lemon juice.

Lightly coat with the bread crumbs.

Add to a pan lightly coated with olive oil.

And…

Top each piece with a spoonful of lemon zest.

Add to the oven uncovered for 20 minutes.

In the interim cut some fresh green beans.
Toss with some olive oil and add the remainder of the chopped leek mixture and place in a shallow plan in the oven.

Remove in 20 minutes.

Add some pearled couscous to the mix and serve it hot.

When broiled vegetables meet tofu in a glaze sauce.

Broiling is a delicate art, if you’re not careful things can get ugly. If you have a high and low setting, use your own discretion, but a high broil gets you to the finish line quicker.

It starts with a head of cheddar cauliflower. This type of cauliflower doesn’t break apart as easily as the white variety.
Remove the stem and cut into small bite sized pieces.

Cut some zucchini into slices

And yellow summer squash, after slicing cut into halves.

You use can a pan like this and mix the zucchini and squash with a coating of peanut oil, use the oil sparingly as you won’t need much.

Roughly 20 minutes is all it’ll take. You cue to remove is once they get brown around the edges.

This same process applies with the

cauliflower by the way. I had two stalks of broccoli that I added to the party, use the same process mind you.

Since you are in the process of cutting. Add some red and blue potatoes into the mix.

After 10 minutes in the broiler, add some freshly chopped chives and green onions and place back into the broiler for another 10 minutes.

During this broiling process take care to mix to ensure even cooking.

Here’s the glue that holds it together… Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki sauce, bring this to a simmer on the side and add your choice of protein…

I added some baked tofu that I cut into cubes.

Add the ingredients to the glaze…

And add to a bed of rice, I used Minute Rice, there is a multi-grain medley (brown, red, wild rice and quinoa).

The finished product in roughly 35 minutes. Viola

Stir-fried Collard Greens

Collard Greens are a remarkably versatile green. Instead of the typical preparation of boiling them for hours on end, I decided to switch it up a bit to spice up some leftovers that I had.

Cleaning the greens is a first, then separating the leaf from the stem.

Then… Tightly roll the greens into a tight coil and slice into thin strips.

Add to a heated wok, I opt for soybean or avocado oil because of the higher burn temp.

Add thinly sliced garlic, red pepper and onion (see the theme) stir-fry for 6-7 minutes, but don’t overdo it. Your cue to stop is when they are dark green.

Add to the top of a bed of rice, noodles or couscous

And your leftovers are reborn!

Leftover Curry with a Curve

I won’t bore you with the play by play, but I was conflicted on what to do for dinner and I had leftovers to contend with.

My dilemma was my dragon cayenne peppers, they are flourishing with it getting colder and time is of the essence.

I had some broccoli that I got the other day from the Fresh Market… 

Along with some broccolini… And I came up with the novel idea of pairing it with with some sweet basil from my garden.

I used soybean oil because of the higher burn temp to stir-fry the vegetables. Toss continously for 7 to 8 minutes and set aside.

I have a bad habit of letting a green onions go to hell. So, I added them into the mix of:

1/4 of a sweet onion
5 cloves of garlic
3 stalks of green onion
3 stems of basil
2 dragon cayenne peppers

Slice thinly…

Add to the wok with tablespoon of soybean oil.

Here’s the part where I started the recycling process. I had some leftover veggie chicken strips, after slicing them and adding thawed cooked shrimp I had. I threw them into the fire with… You guessed it, soybean oil along with a 1/4 cup of water. Just let it hang out in the wok for about a  minute, remove and set aside.

The easiest part is the heating of curry sauce, I used Tiki Masala from Trader Joe’s.

Add the prepped ingredients to the sauce, stir for even distribution and serve on a bed of couscous.

Viola!

Stir-fried basil tofu and asparagus

Tofu is very adaptable, it takes on the flavor of what you season it with.

I had a package of extra firm so I resigned to use it today instead of letting it hang out on the middle shelf.

I started off by cubing it and seasoning it with tumeric and lemon pepper. I tossed it some avocado oil to prep it for the skillet before setting it aside.

I cut some fresh basil from my garden, taking care to rinse it throughly. If you don’t have fresh basil, the dried variety will suffice.

After rinsing, pat it dry.

The tumeric adds a yellow sheen to the tofu. Add to a non-stick skillet on medium heat for 15 minutes, add the basil towards the end, roughly 2 minutes so you don’t overcook it.

Add some asparagus and toss in a separate skillet, cook until browned, high heat 5-7 minutes. Add some red pepper for contrast.

Add the tofu, asparagus and peppers to 2 cups of rice and stir. A lemon based simmer sauce is a good compliment to add, but make sure not to overdo it.

Serve it up!

Garlic peppered Zucchini Fries

For starters you’ll need 2 medium sized zucchinis, I had 3 for the purposes of this effort so I had to make 2 batches.

Your ingredient minions will be:

3/4 cups of bread crumbs
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of shredded parmesan

Have some Garlic sea salt and cracked black pepper at your disposal.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Cut them lengthwise and then cut into 3 to 4 inch wedges.

Melt the butter separately and toss the zucchini wedges in it for uniform coating. Add the garlic sea salt and black pepper, and be easy baby…

Add the zucchini to the bread crumb and parmesan mixture. Toss and get a nice coating layered on.

Like so…

Add them to a cookie sheet, spread out for even cooking.  If you use non-stick aluminum foil, you’ll be ahead of the game, if not, coat lightly with peanut oil.

Bake for 15 minutes…

And its a wrap.