Monday, July 18, 2011

what the hell am I going to do with Venetian Calamari Linguine?

here's the problems with me and cooking

1. I get bored easily and don't want to do the same recipe again and again
2. I hate measuring things out so ... I don't ... most of the time

but, I made a really, really, really good dish on Saturday night - I took pictures and everything - I measured things out (kind of) and then I paired it with a good wine and it was divine - at least we thought so - here's what I did:

I first purchased (kind of) this pasta at winesbywednesday.com
(trust me, it says Venetian Calamari Linguine - hard to get good photographers to work weekends)

then I googled V.C.L. recipe's and read through to get ideas of what others might do with this odd sounding pasta

then I went to the store and bought all of this stuff for $17.98
that's one bunch of Italian parsely (seemed appropriate since Venice is in Italy)
a lemon
some garlic (again with the Italy thing)
a hunk of Pecorino cheese (which was $7.36 of the $17.98)
some Bay Scallops
a few Cherry Tomatoes (or grape, I can't remember and it's not important)

and it's all tax deductible now that I've written this blog ... right Alecia?

I heated up water in a pasta pan and when it was boiling I added a drop or two of olive oil and dumped in enough pasta for the two of us - cooked it to al dente -
we are going to be sauteing this in a little while so keep it true al dente please!
(can you believe how fast my hands are - or how bad my photography assistant really was - you be the judge)

then I started sauteing the scallops in two tablespoons of wbw Organic Tuscan Olive Oil
 

(make sure if you buy frozen and thaw that you pat them dry first - I didn't but sure wished I would have!)

poured myself a nice glass of Pinot Grigio from Alois Lageder
(this is clearly a pose - I pour wine a little to fast for camera lenses as well)

spilled exactly 1/4 cup of that wine into the pan and let them simmer for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally
(the scallops that is - I swirled, sniffed then drank the wine like a true cork dork would)  
if anyone out there actually makes this recipe do not overcook these damn it - I don't know what size scallop you are going to buy so I can't tell you exactly how long to saute but to make sure I didn't overcook I tasted one at two minutes and three minutes - I was sauteing on low heat

I removed from pan and set aside (the scallops that is, not the wine)

oops - I actually did set aside my wine to chop the parsley and slice the tomatoes while those scallops were sauteing - I did 3 tablespoons of parsley and 12 tomatoes sliced in half the long way - if you think that's not enough or too much do more or less - I don't care that much to be honest

now add two more tablespoons of that same Tuscan Olive Oil you purchased at wbw a while back and spill another 1/4 cup of wine into that same scallop pan (that should leave you with exactly 2 glasses each to have with dinner - for some reason it only left us with 1.5 glasses each for dinner - weird!)
put in the garlic and saute that for a couple of minutes or so
(hopefully you have a cool cleaver like this one - if not you should probably go buy one - people will say - that's a real cool cleaver you've got there)

then mix a little more of that olive oil to the pasta and stir it around
 (probably should have done this in a bowl without holes in it - for future reference)

and throw the pasta, the tomatoes and the parsley in the pan and stir around for five minutes or so - mostly until the tomatoes are warm but not squishy.
(I should have had this on the cleaver too - I'm such an idiot!)

put the scallops back in to warm them - a minute or so should do the trick
then spoon it out real nice and arranged pretty on yellow plates like these and squeeze the half of one lemon per serving on top like this
grate some of that great (and damn expensive) Pecorino cheese on top
top with a little freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of this stuff:
and you have this:
a fresh, amazingly tasty dish that took me twenty minutes to prepare - well it would have if I wasn't measuring and photographing and drinking and stuff

hope someone reads this and makes it - the truth is that a recipe just about like this is out there if you google Venetian Calamari Linguine - but she showed a cat napping in her sink as the last photograph - you wouldn't have respected me at all if I'd have just given you that link - we both know that - so I had to plagiarize - and is it really plagiarism if you admit to it at the end?

cheers,

mt

 









Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Walla Walla or Bust!

so, pictures and interviews and tasting notes and maybe a one liner or two on the way starting Thursday evening - it'll be fun, I promise - bookmark this as a favorite please and thanks! If you become a follower (just of the blog, not of my lifestyle for Pete's sake) you'll be notified when it's updated.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

the can't miss wine tasting!

 Nick Sniffing
talking, reading, listening, sniffing, sipping, drinking!
 great food, great wine
I think I made Arlene mad!
 early in the evening, people listening
 maps and notes and things
pontificating
 sneaking a 2nd glass - got caught!
 Nick Entertaing the Gang!
Paron's Flat Shiraz/Cabernet
Scoot Hiding - Tim Smiling - Typical
hey Cathie - don't believe a word
 Bob's Better (much better) Half
 the long, long lecture on Siepi's Super Tuscan's
  a lot of wine ... just so much time
 listen - divide by half - somewhere near the truth
a laid back Doc - enjoying the juice!