August 11, 2018 Lunch – PPI Chirashi. Dinner – Scallops Provençal with Spaghetti Squash and Spinach

August 11, 2018 Lunch – PPI Chirashi. Dinner – Scallops Provençal with Spaghetti Squash and Spinach

I ate a bagel with cream cheese, Lax, a Vidalia onion slice and capers for breakfast with a cup of tea as I watched the first weekend games of the English Premier League, Tottenham at Newcastle and Huddlesfield at Chelsea.  Was still a bit hungry so I toasted two slices of banana nut bread and smeared them with peach honey butter and drank a cup of Earl a Grey tea for a very English breakfast.

Then I went back to bed because I was still sore from my bike ride yesterday.  I read the new Edible Santa Fe and dozed until Suzette arrived at 2:45.  I got up and cut up the ½ Chirashi left from yesterday’s lunch at Azuma and we ate that and then Suzette ate a PPI piece of Bobby Flay Chicken with the last of the Gruet still rose wine.  I drank green tea , which I prefer with Sashimi.  I also thawed 18 scallops for our dinner.  I wanted to make Julia Child’s Scallops Provençal recipe and eat the PPI Spaghetti Squash and a green vegetable.

Then we dressed and went to the garden and a bit more than an hour we planted one raised bed with spinach, kale and chard and weeded two of the old garden triangles.  I turn the soil and Suzette gets down and pulls the weeds.

Then we began watching the news and I started prepping dinner at 5:30.

The recipe calls for ½ cup diced onion, 1 ¼ T. of shallot, and 1 clove of garlic.  I chopped more of each.  Then I cut the scallops in half horizontally while Suzette went t the garden for a small handful of thyme.  I love this recipe because it is seasoned with a bay leaf and thyme, so I then de-stemmed the leaves of about 1 tsp. of thyme instead of the ¼ tsp called for by the recipe.


Then I sautéed the onion, shallot, and garlic over low heat in 2 T. of butter until they began to turn translucent.  Suzette dusted the scallops by putting ½ cup of flour in a freezer bag and coating the scallops with flour.  We decided to add spinach to the squash rather than cook it separately.

Then Suzette sautéed the scallops in butter and olive oil and then added the onion mixture, the bay leaf and thyme, 12 halved cherry tomatoes, and 2/3 cup dry white wine and covered and placed the skillet in a 400 degree oven for five minutes.  I put a heat and serve loaf of multigrain bread in the oven for 15 minutes. Then we uncovered the scallops after cooking them in the oven, I wrapped the bread in the aluminum foil and heated it in the oven another 10 minutes while we reduced the sauce on the scallops on top of the stove and heated the squash and spinach in the microwave.

Willy arrived at 7:00.

When the squash and spinach were heated, suzette added 2 T. of pesto she had made and frozen last year.

Suzette added ½ cup of grated Jarlsberg cheese to the scallops on the stove to create a gratin dish as the recipe provided.

I poured three glasses of La Granja Spanish white  Viura/Verdejo blend ($5.99 at Trader Joe’s) and Suzette put the bread on the table and served dinner.

Willy left at 8:00.  We watched Grantchester and at 10:00 soaked in the hot tub and then went to bed at about 10:30.

 Scallops Provençal has become my favorite way to eat scallops.  Perhaps next time I shall drink a more elegant wine such as a Sancerre to see if it elevates the dining experience.

Bon Appetit