Our favorite "glamour foods" are mussels, scallops, and filet mignon. But, one only one income, how can we have these things on a budget, still pack a ton of flavor, love, and indulgence into our "last meal" of 2013?
How about an appetizer of mussels steaming in shallots and white wine?
And a main course of scallops and filet tips on a bed of a pene pasta with a cream sauce?
Oh yeah... Awesome.
1 bag of mussels from the seafood counter (clean well to rid outsides of all sand/grit)
1 small shallot
1/4 stick of butter
1 bottle Chardonnay
10 or 12 large scallops from the seafood counter (bring them out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you're going to sear them)
1 filet mignon from the butcher (bring it out of the fridge about 15 minutes before you're going to cook it)
1/4 stick of butter
2 or 3 teaspoons olive oil
1 box of pene pasta
1 small jar cream sauce of choice (we used alfredo)
Fresh cilantro to taste
1/8 to 1/4 cup tequila
Juice of 1 medium lime
I started the sauce first. I was winging this. There was something I wanted to end up with, but didn't know exactly how to get there, so I wanted to start the sauce first so I could tweak it as needed.
1.) Pour the jarred cream sauce into a medium sauce pan.
2.) Pour 1/8 to 1/4 cup of tequila into the jar, not the pan.
3.) Squeeze your lime into the jar too.
4.) Place the lid back on, and shake to get the last of the cream sauce out of the jar, and to incorporate the tequila and lime juice.
5.) Pour this into your sauce pan, and add a little water if you'd like.
6.) Whisk together, and bring to a small simmer slowly over medium heat.
7.) Finely chop about 1/4 cup of cilantro and add to the sauce. Mix well, and allow to cook for a little before tasting.
8.) Taste after about 5 minutes of simmering, and add any salt, pepper, cilantro, lime juice, or tequila you would like, depending on your preferences.
To make the appetizer of steamed mussels
1.) Place 1/4 stick of butter into a large sauce pan (big enough to hold all the mussels), and begin to melt over medium heat.
2.) Chop the shallot into a very small dice, so that when the mussels open, and you're enjoying the mussel with the awesome broth, you are getting small pieces of the shallot too.
3.) Add the diced shallot to the melted butter, and soften the shallots in the butter. Be careful not to burn the shallot, but bring the heat up and stir to deepen the color of the butter and shallots.
4.) Add the mussels.
5.) Add a cup of the Chardonnay. Cover the pan, and allow the mussels to steam in the butter, shallot, wine sauce. It will take about 5 minutes. They are done when all mussels are open. (Tiny note... Dead mussels will not open, no matter how long you cook them. So when I say cook until they are all open, if there are one or two that are not open after about 5-7 minutes, but all the others ARE open, you're done cooking them. The ones unopened are dead, and DO NOT EAT THEM. The rest are perfect, and you don't need to be worried about the open/cooked ones being contaminated by the ones not opened.)
6.) To serve, I pour the entire contents of the pot into a large serving bowl. You'll need a second bowl for the shells, and if you're a bread lover, grab some to dip in the broth.
7.) To eat, pull apart the opened shells, discard the one without the meat. Use a small fork to pull the mussel from the shell it's still attached to, and dip it into the broth and eat it. You can also use the shell to scoop up some broth, because it's crazy delicious.
After eating this all up, clean up your plates and start on the main course.
1.) I put my pasta on to cook, using the same pot I had steamed the mussels in! After rinsing it out. We use the gluten free pasta, and I've found that by following the directions on the box (WHAT?!?! Is this the REAL Saucy Dish saying she FOLLOWS DIRECTIONS?) and cook it for 10 minutes, it's perfect. So yes... I set my timer after I add the pasta to the salted boiling water.
The scallops and filet tips will not take long to cook, so pay attention to your timing here. Also, cook your filet to the temp you enjoy, and remember you'll gave caryover cooking due to them staying hot when you take them out of the pan. They will continue to cook a little more because they're hot.
Here's what I did...
1.) Cut the filet into 1" pieces, add a little salt and pepper.
2.) Melt the remaining 1/4 stick of butter in a heavy skillet, and add the steak pieces to the pan, evenly spread out so they sear, and don't steam.
3.) I cooked ours to rare, so the carryover cooking, and the eventual heat of the pasta sauce would bring them to medium rare.
4.) I then put the cooked filet tips into a bowl, and I added the scallops to the same pan. Again, spreading them out evenly.
5.) Scallops take almost no time at all to cook, so don't walk away. I added a little olive oil to the pan, and flipped them when they were lightly browned on one side. (I planned on 2 minutes a side for my scallops, so when the timer on the noodles said 4 to go, I started my scallops, and they came out perfect.)
6.) Drain the pasta, and add it back into the pot used to boiled it.
7.) Pour your sauce into the noodles and stir to blend them.
8.) To serve, portion out pasta and sauce onto a plate with deep rims, or pasta bowls. Place the scallops and filet tips on top of pasta.
9.) Garnish with a wedge of lime and fresh cilantro.
10.) Pour glasses of wine from the remaining bottle of Chardonnay, and dig in.
Don't be afraid of cooking mussels and/or scallops at home. Fresh seafood has no yucky smell, and won't make your home smell like a fisherman's work truck. And don't be intimidated by the fancy cooks on TV that say "There's nothing worse than over cooked scallops, mussels, and shrimp." Well, believe me, there are worse things, so please don't fret. Watch the prices at the seafood counter and grab some one day when they're in season, plentiful, and less expensive. Bring them home, and practice. Medium high heat, melted butter, and a few at a time to get the hang of it. I like to use tongs to turn them, rather than a spatula. Protiens will release from the pan when they're ready. If you give a little tug using the tongs, and it doesn't come right up, wait another few seconds and try again. Don't force it. Science has an amazing way of helping you cook. Let the pan, stove, and molecular structure do all the work. You're just there to eat, so don't over think it.
Cook what you want to eat.
Stay hungry and play with your food.
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