Delicious Dinner Tonight.

I'm preparing grouper tonight.
Mr. Hawthorne will be cooking scallops.

Here, I'm getting everything ready for my
Hot Pepper Flakes-Cilantro-Lime Butter.


Just mix all together and you're good to go.



Here are all the ingredients for my Pineapple Rum Salsa.

I mixed
about 1/2 can of crushed pineapple and joose
1/4 cup rum
joose of 1 ornj
joose of 1 lime
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon rice wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
diced slices of red, yellow, and green bell peppers
1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint leaves
salt and pepper

I know, in the mise-en-place above, I had only the red pepper, but I decided to add the yellow and green too.


Awwww. Dixie's being cute. Again.
She just can't help herself.

Here's everything ready to go INto the pan:
Grouper fillets
Aig whites
Ground Pistachios
Sherry
Grapeseed oil
(Of course, you could whatever you have in your pantry. Why yes, motor oil would be just fine.)
Salt and Pepper


Salt and pepper fillets.
Then dip in whupped aig whites.


Coat the grouper fillets with the ground-up pistachios.


Saute in a mixture of the grapeseed oil, olive oil, and a bit of unsalted Land o' Lakes buttah, for extra flavor.
The top fillet was thinner so I doubled it over and started that one after I'd already turned the bottom, thicker fillet.


After browning the fillets on both sides, add some sherry or white wine to deglaze the pan (I used sherry), cover, and cook for maybe 3-4 minutes.
Do NOT overcook fish!

Plate the grouper on top of the Pineapple Rum Salsa and put a dollop of the Cilantro-Lime buttah on top.


I'm ready for my close-ups, Mr. DeMille.


Oh... Just Yummmmmmmm!

Mr. Hawthorne starts his scallops. First, he rinsed them off in a colander, then drained and blotted them with paper towels. He sprinkled them lightly with garlic powder and Old Bay Seasoning then sauteed them in olive oil and buttah, over medium high heat. Notice the buttah is beginning to brown.


Turn over after 1-2 minutes on the first side and cook another 1-2 minutes.
Do NOT overcook.
Remember, they continue to cook after you turn off the heat.

NOW, THIS IS IMPORTANT!
We learned this at cooking class last week.
We had experienced it before, but just didn't know what had happened.

If you happen to saute your scallops and they don't sear properly but instead leak out a milky-like fluid, then what you have are effed-up scallops that have been infused or injected with scallop steroids.
This is a liquid- a solution of sodium tripolyphosphate- that's been injected INto the scallops to plump them up so they weigh more
and are also preserved by said chemical.
These scallops will NOT sear no matter what you do to them.
In our experience, we have found this type of scallop to be pre-packaged (heh)
in 1 pound containers.

Actually, Mr. Hawthorne went off of scallops some time ago because he was complaining about the slight acidic/metallic taste to the scallops we were getting.
Apparently this was why.
So, again, we gained some useful information at cooking class.

Ask your fishmonger if the scallops have been injected.
We did this yesterday at SeaMark and the lady knew exactly what we were talking about. She assured us, "Absolutely not."

And I always prefer Ocean Scallops to Bay Scallops.
Ocean Scallops are the great big ones.
Bay Scallops the little bitty ones.

Mr. Hawthorne deglazes his pan with white wine.

The plated scallops with their wine joose.

Close up of the scallops.

OH, this was so good!



ETA: Hours later, I just realized something.

At the very beginning of this post, I wrote:

"I'm preparing grouper tonight.
Mr. Hawthorne will be cooking scallops."

Now, this is very telling for me.
I'm preparing
and
he's cooking.

Just look at all the pictures I had for what I prepared

and the few pictures I had for what Mr. H. cooked.
I think this is a very basic male/female thing.
Females plan and think things out.
Males just come in, make a mess, and do it without thought.
Well, it's worked forever.
Guess I shouldn't complain.