Happy July 1.

Here are some pretty sky pictures I took the other night from my deck.

OK, enough of sky.

Let's eat.

First, I want to explain where I'm going with tonight's meal so it won't seem like I'm all over the board with this post.
Tonight's main ingredient is ...
SCALLOPS.
I'm preparing them two different ways, with two sauces.
I also have a side dish - garden squash and onions.
And LEFTOVERS from last night.
Please enjoy.

I started off with some lovely parmesan crisps.

I like Il Villagio Parmesan from Harris Teeter.
Parmesan is like olive oil. You need to comparison-taste different types to find out what you really like.
I had been eating Sargento from Food Lion for years, until I decided to do something really rash and daring and try a different brand. Let me just say I've never eaten Sargento again.
It is crap.

Anyways, back to the crisps.
You grate the parmesan then press it into a biscuit cutter to make little rounds.
I do them on parchment paper for easier removal.
Bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for about 7 minutes.
Watch closely so they don't burn.
When nicely browned, immediately remove them from the pan.
I just set mine flat on the plate.

At this point, since they're very pliable, you could drape them over the back of a muffin tin to make a bowl-shaped crisp,
then perhaps fill it with a salad, say baby spinach, red grapes, orange slices, and toasted almonds and drizzle with a nice vinaigrette.

Oooh. That does sound good.
Maybe I'll make that sometime and blog the results for you.

OK, back to the meal.

Next up, a squash and onion dish.
I just picked the squash and dill from my garden.

I sliced the onions and squash and sauteed them in Bertolli Extra Light olive oil and Land o' Lakes Unsalted Butter.
Salt and pepper.

I always like to add a bit of sugar to my veggies.

Then I decided to chop up a green pepper from the garden and add in some snow peas, courtesy of Food Lion.

And here's the finished dish.
Snow peas are still crisp.

Next, my first sauce.

I used a can of mandarin oranges, with juice, sesame oil, fresh ginger, honey,
and a cornstarch slurry

Pour the honey in with the oranges.

Add a teeny bit of sesame oil.

Then, I used a garlic press to juice the ginger.

Bring to a boil and whisk in slurry to thicken.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now, my second sauce.

Brandy Cream Sauce:
4 oz. brandy
6 oz. heavy cream
salt and pepper

First, heat brandy in small saucepan.

I just happen to really like this picture.

Now, on to the main event.

Flame the brandy.

Being the pyromaniac that I am,
I relished the flames.

Oooh.
Pretty.

Just let the brandy reduce until the flames expire.

Not ready yet.

Oh my, but this was fun.

Still going.

I like this picture too.
You know me and my action shots.

Ooh, oooh.
Me likey.

It's finally dying down.
The flames lasted a fairly long time -
maybe 4-5 minutes.

Another action shot.
Oh my, I really liked this one.

After the flames are done, add in the cream.
Salt and pepper.

Next, I'm getting my coating for my almond scallops ready.
Almonds in the back, parsley, fresh ginger root, and salt and pepper.

Mix all together.

Rinse off the scallops.

Pat dry.

As I said before, I'm doing two different types of scallops.
At the top is my almond/parsley/ginger coating for my almond scallops
with Mandarin sesame glaze.
At bottom is freshly ground sea salt and pepper for my
scallops au poivre with brandy cream sauce.

On the left are my scallops rolled in freshly ground pepper.
On the right are my scallops encrusted with almonds.

I heated up my pan, added olive oil and butter, then seared the scallops on both sides.
Maybe two-three minutes each side.

Then I baked in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for about 5-7 minutes, until cooked.
Do NOT overcook.

Here's dinner.
Bottom left, squash, onion, green pepper, snow pea saute.
Bottom right, almond encrusted scallops and pepper scallops.
Top left, my Mandarin orange sauce.
Top right, my Brandy/cream sauce.

Now, on to the plating and my LEFTOVERS.
Remember I said we were having leftovers?

On the bottom is the Jambalaya rice from the other night.
On top is my rutabaga/carrot mash from the other night.

I like the way this meal is turning out.

Here's Mr. H.'s plate.
In the middle is the leftover rice and rutabaga/carrot with a parmesan crisp on top.
On the right is the squash/onion saute.
On the left are the almond encrusted scallops with the orange sauce.
At the top are my scallops au poivre with Brandy Cream sauce.

And here's my plate.
The goodie bits on top of the parmesan crisp are
almonds and parsley scraped up from the pan.

I have to say I impressed myself with this.

The scallops were delicious.
Perfectly cooked.
Both sauces complemented their respective scallops and the melding of flavors was a lovely gastronomic experience.

The squash/onion/dill was very fresh tasting.
Well, I guess so, since I just picked everything.

The parmesan crisp was a parmesan crisp and everything that means and more.

Plus, I got rid of LEFTOVERS!

This was an excellent meal.
I enjoyed every flavor in my dish,
and there were so many.

SODAlicious.


Now here's a tease picture.
What's this?

My front yard.
With newly-laid sod and fresh mulch.

My mimosa tree.
With more sod and mulch.

This is a work in progress.
I will blog the whole thing when everything is done.
Just let me say, it involves an irrigation system.
I'm so 'cited!

Another Tasty Dinner At The Hawthorne Household.

Hello everyone.
Here are last night's clouds.
I know you wanted to see them.

I just wanted to push that little cloud out.
So, I did.

Dixie is getting very tolerant of Bo-Bo.

Check it out.
Bo-Bo stretches in his sleep and Dixie keeps a watchful eye on him.
She even allowed him on her blankie.
Small steps. Small steps.

Now, on to tonight's dinner.
Here, we have sliced rutabaga and carrots.
I had a lone rutabaga left over from the other week when I did R is For Rutabaga.

First, I sauteed the sliced rutabagas and carrots in butter and olive oil.
Salted and peppered.

Then added some water and simmered, covered, until the veggies were soft.

Into a colander.

Add a pat of buttuh.

Add a little bit of cream and smash.
With a smasher.
No beaters.

Next up, my rice dish.
OK, I use boxed rice dishes.
In this case, Jambalaya.
Who doesn't?

I chopped some peeled celery stalks and some onion.

Sauteed the onions and celery in olive oil and butter.

Add water to boil.
Then poured in the rice mixture.

Cooked about 25 minutes-
until rice absorbed the water, then set aside, covered.

Now, for my Jerk Chicken.

I had chicken thighs in my freezer which I'm trying to clean out.
I went to Food Netwok and searched for chicken thighs.

I came up with Booby Flay's recipe and decided to give it a whirl.

Now, just let me vent for a moment or two.
I'm doing Jerk-rubbed chicken thighs.
A Caribbean recipe, methinks.
I must say, I have a problem with respecting any cuisine
whose the most famous dish is dubbed "JERK."
Enough island shit, Mon.
Yet, I'm doing a Jerk Chicken.
Why, I don't know.


But I chose Bobby's recipe instead of
Sandra Lee's Tandoori Chicken arrrrusssupppiieee,
which was tempting, but I don't have a tandoor.
Neither does Sandy, but that didn't stop her.
I imagine she could substitute her slo-kukker for a tandoor.

Let me just say:

Tandoori is NOT a recipe.
It is a cooking method.
Marinated (marinaded to Sandy) meat is cooked over intense fire in a TANDOOR, which is a clay oven where the fire is built. Heat can only escape through the top and the ceramic sides reflect the heat, intensifying it, so the oven can easily reach temperatures of 500 degrees.

So Sandy aside, I did take her method for slathering my chicken in yogurt since
I had some leftover yogurt from B is for Borscht.

Here are the chicken thighs.
Awaiting rub.

And here, Mon, are the rub ingredients:

2 TB ground coriander
2 TB ground ginger
2 TB light brown sugar
1 TB onion powder
1 TB garlic powder
1 TB Kosher salt
1 TB cayenne powder
(Sorry, that item - the cayenne- wasn't in my picture.
I forgot it. Beat me. Not that anybody really is ticking off each ingredient.
Unless you're really really anal.)
2 tsp. coarse black pepper
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. ground cloves

I combined all spices in a small bowl.

Aren't these spices beautiful?
I can smell all the colors.
It is truly grand.

I glopped some yogurt on the underside of each chickie thigh,

then sprinkled with the spice mixture.

Turned over, spanked the bare chickie butts, then slatherd with more yogurt

and the rest of the nicey spicey.
I let the chicken set for at least 30 minutes.

Mr. Hawthorne got home from work and immediately fired up the grill.

Aren't these pretty?

I believe this plate belonged to YoungestHawthorne.
Top, is my chicken thigh.
Bottom right is my rutabaga and carrot smash.
Bottom left is my rice, with onion and celery.

The chicken was quite good.
I was expecting it to be spicier than it was, but it was still very flavorful.
Very moist.

Youngest Hawthorne ate everything on the first plate,
then complained because I wasn't using the BIG plates, so he got a BIG plate and piled more food on it and ate everything.


They like my food.
They really really like my food!