Dinner ... Part Deux.

Mr. Hawthorne and I were at Harris Teeter's and found some beautiful scallops.

They were huge.

I rinsed them off, patted them dry, and added salt and pepper.

And so starts tonight's entree.

First Up ... CARAMELIZED ONIONS.

I thinly sliced my onions and started sauteeing them in melted butter.

Saute the onions, scraping up the brown bits.

Pour in white wine to de-glaze the pan.

Continue cooking.

Keep adding in wine and cooking the onions down until you get lovely caramelized onions.

Set aside.

Next up ... PARMESAN CRISPS.

Place shredded Parmesan cheese into biscuit cutter rounds. Press down firmly.












Place into pre-heated 425-degree oven and watch carefully.











Apparently, I didn't watch as carefully as I should have. I should have turned the pan halfway through cooking.

Important note:

Do NOT let crisps cool on baking sheets, else they'll stick, horribly.








If you missed this window,
just heat them back up a bit and try again.


Scrape off while still warm.


Lovely Parmesan crisps.


Third up ... PESTO.

I only have two little basil plants growing on my window sill so I didn't want to strip them of every leaf to make basil pesto, so I went out in my garden and picked some mint leaves and some parsley, in addition to the basil.












Add a bit of garlic, then some pine nuts.
















Add Parmesan cheese, then add olive oil while processing.

And you end up with a beautiful pesto.



Fourth up ... RISOTTO

I included these because I liked the pictures.
Know what it is?

I'm pouring boiling water over some sun-dried tomatoes to softened them.
I likey steamy.

Wow, that Blue Pearl Granite sho is purty.

I have chopped spinach, chopped onion, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.




Saute your onions in butter.

Whoot!

ACTION shot.

Pour about a cup of Arborio rice into the onions.










Thoroughly coat the rice.











Add chicken stock just a bit at a time and allow the rice to absorb the liquid.









Stir constantly.

I ended up using about 2 cans of stock.

I like to add in a some heavy cream for
extra richness.

Here's the risotto, almost done.














Next, add in the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes.

















Stir vegetables until spinach is wilted.
















Add in grated Parmesan cheese.












My thick, creamy, delicious risotto.

Set aside.



Fifth up ... SCALLOPS.


Remember, I've already rinsed, patted dry, and seasoned my scallops.



Here's my pesto, my caramelized onions, and my scallops.


Saute scallops in butter, maybe two minutes on each side.
Do not cook all the way through because you're going to finish them off in the oven.



... ON TO THE ASSEMBLY ...





Using a biscuit cutter,
make rounds of risotto.


















Next, add a Parmesan crisp.


















Add scallops on top.

Then add a bit of pesto.

Finally, top with the caramelized onions and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 4 minutes.

I've plated the scallop and the Panerre Naanini with
some mustard emulsion and paprika infused oil.

The scallops were cooked to perfection.

Youngest Hawthorne came in a few minutes later, so I ended up making a third plate of this.