Seared Scallops a la Emeril Lagasse

Scallops are one of those foods that seems to be over-glamorized by food based television shows... particularly those with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.  However, while they may mess a lot of people up on Hell's Kitchen, I knew that they really weren't that difficult.  The key to a properly seared scallop is the right amount of oil a very hot skillet.  After that, I suppose it's all about timing.  Emeril's recipe pairs the seared scallops with an interesting combination of cabbage, fingerling potatoes, apples, and golden raisins.  Bizarre... but it ended up being quite tasty!

I picked up my ingredients for the recipe at Calandro's Supermarket.  There were a few steps involved such as boiling the potatoes with thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns; soaking the raisins in apple cider; toasting some pine nuts to draw out some flavor; and searing the scallops to a beautiful golden brown in grape seed oil.  After that, I cooked down the cabbage in oil, wine, and Emeril's chicken stock.  Soon the raisins were added along with the apple and some more thyme.

The final plating involved arranging the scallops over a bed of the cabbage, potato, apple and raisin mixture. Since I used some purple and green cabbage the dish really popped with color.  The toasted pine nuts were used as a garnish along with some fresh thyme just to add a little greenery.

The "Seared Scallops with Savoy Cabbage, Fingerling Potatoes, Pink Ladies, and Sultanas" from Emeril's new book Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders ended up being one of the most interesting recipes I've ever cooked.  It seemed odd yet somehow really worked.  I was amazed at how well the flavors and textures worked together.  Plus, this truly ended up being and extremely healthy meal.  While I'm not known for such things, it is always good to get such great depth of flavor in a dish that at least isn't terrible for you!  Oh, and the scallops were amazing.  Apparently I can sear scallops fairly well.  Kosher salt, fresh ground white pepper and grape seed oil.  That's it.  Bon Apetit.

Emeril says I'm a Big Boy

Big Boy Spaghetti and Meatballs caught my eye the moment I opened Emeril Lagasse's new cookbook Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders.  Knowing that I'd be blogging about at least nine of the recipes as part of the promotion, I had a good feeling that the meatballs would eventually make their way onto Bite and Booze.  Hey, there was red wine in the sauce after all!  After securing the ingredients I needed from Calandro's Supermarket I took to my kitchen to make some meatballs.

The balls themselves included ground beef, Italian sausage, parsley, Parmesan, garlic, salt, pepper and some buttermilk-soaked bread.  After mixing all the ingredients together I formed them into balls and stuck it in the refrigerator to help them take shape.  From there it was straight to a hot skillet with olive oil to brown off the meatballs followed by building the flavors in the sauce.

The sauce came out highly acidic but Emeril had a cure for that.  In his recipe he notes that if the sauce is too acidic you should add some evaporated milk.  I ended up adding about half a can, not two tablespoons, but it certainly did the trick.  The sauce worked out pretty well and meatballs were definitely enjoyable.  I could definitely see doing some different takes on this recipe in the future!

Emeril's Chorizo and Potato Quesadillas with Cilantro-Chile Crema

Excited to change up the style of one-pot wonders from Emeril's new cookbook, I turned the page to a recipe that caught my eye: chorizo and potato quesadillas with cilantro-chile crema.  The recipe seemed simple, straight forward, and delicious, so I knew I ought to give it a try!

Step one, like always, started with a trip with Calandro's Supermarket at the corner of Perkins and Seigen in Baton Rouge.  I found everything that I needed and more... except one thing: chorizo.  Calandro's had some smoked chorizo but I needed the fresh stuff to take out of its casing (or never put it in one).  

Fortunately I remembered the leisure class I took on sausage making at the Louisiana Culinary Institute.  Chef Dave Tiner provided us with a homemade chorizo recipe.  I picked up some smoked paprika and got the butcher to grind some pork for me.  I knew I'd have the rest of the ingredients at my house already.  I put some white wine, salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, oregano, granulated garlic, sugar and cayenne in a mixing bowl.  After whisking it all together I added a pound of ground pork and mixed all of the seasonings into it.  Boom!  Chorizo!

After I let the ground pork marinate in the chorizo seasonings for a little while I put it in a skillet to brown it off.  Once sufficiently cooked I added the red onions and then some diced fingerling potatoes that I had previously parboiled.  The mixture needed a little extra salt and pepper, but other than that is tasted sensational.

I also made a cilantro-chile crema to go with the quesadillas.  Emeril called it the "icing on this cake," it it wasn't hard to see why.  In a food processor I combined sour cream, cilantro, a minced jalapeno, three garlic cloves, some green onions, a little cayenne and a little salt.  After blending for a few minutes, I had a delicious spicy yet refreshing crema!

Once the crema took its place on the assembly line I turned my attention to the quesadillas.  I melted a little butter in a skillet and laid a tortilla down on it.  I then loaded one side with the chorizo-red onion-potato mixture followed by some chopped red bell pepper and a generous portion of cheese.  Once the tortilla did its job toasting in the butter, I folded it over into the melty cheese.

The end result, especially when drizzled with the cilantro-chile crema, turned out to be fairly spectacular.  The quesadillas provided a great balance of spicy and savory with a combination of textures from creamy to crunchy.  All in all, this recipe was most definitely a success!

Emeril's One-Pot Wonder: Chicken and Dumplings

In an effort to get back on track after my not-so-successful Tuscan white bean soup, I decided to tackle some American comfort food once again with a Southern staple: Chicken and Dumplings.  I had never previously made dumplings although it turned out to be pretty similar to biscuits in the whole scheme of things (at least the dough making part).  As for the chicken, well, it was pretty standard... and very delicious.

After getting all of my ingredients from Calandro's Supermarket in place I began to get the stock going.  I submerged the chicken quarters in chicken stock (I've got to start making my own!) and water and added aromatics such as onion, celery, carrot, peppercorns, thyme, and parsley.

Once the stock came to a rolling boil I lowered it to simmer and turned my attention to the dumplings.  Some flour, salt, baking powder and chopped herbs were mixed together with vegetable shortening and then even more so with whole milk.  After that I kneaded the dough and cut it into thirds.

From there the dumplings had to be rolled out fairly thin and then sliced.  I'm sure this could have been done in a pasta machine almost as easily but I did it with an old-fashioned rolling pin.  Once I got the dough flattened out I cut into squares and rectangles and then moved them to the refrigerator until it was time to drop them in the boiling broth.

The stock had to go through a straining process.  The chicken was also removed.  Fat, skin and bones were discarded and then I waited to drop it back in.  I got a fresh batch of carrots, onion and celery ready to go before adding my strained stock back to the pot.  Once that got to a boil I added my dumplings.  A little later I added the chicken back along with the peas and then left everything to simmer for a little while.

My dumplings finished really nicely, plumping up into a chewy flavorful pillow of dough.  The chicken came out beyond fork tender and full of flavor.  I added a little heat to mine because I like food a little on the spicy side, but other than this recipe was right on the money.  I think I've cooked about all the stocks and soups and such that I can handle for now though.  The next recipes I make from Emeril Lagasse's Sizzing Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders will be a little different!

Oh, and see that serving dish featured above?  Stay tuned to an upcoming blog post because you're going to get a chance to win a set of them!

Emeril's Blogger Party: Tuscan White Bean Soup

While participating in Emeril's blogger party by joining 20 other bloggers from around the world in cooking recipes from Emeril's new book "Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonder," I made a commitment to myself to step out of my comfort zone with a few of the recipes.  While I've made plenty of recipes where I've had to soak beans over night (red beans and rice, for example), I had never experimented with Tuscan style white bean dish that was also (outside the chicken stock I guess) vegetarian.  That's a whole realm of cuisine that is truly outside my comfort zone, so I thought I'd give it a try.

My white beans plumped up after soaking them over night

After a trip to Calandro's and another stop at Southside Produce, I still was unable to find any broccoli rabe which the recipe calls for.  Broccoli rabe is actually a green, not broccoli at all, but since I couldn't find it, I made an executive decision to just try regular old broccoli instead.  I wasn't impressed.  I should have done a little research to find something more similar, but oh well!  For the beans I used half baby lima beans and half cannellini beans.  That combination worked a little more to my favor.

Ingredients for my Tuscan White Bean Soup other than the beans!

All of the fresh and wonderful vegetable and herb flavors were there in the soup but I couldn't help but think there was something missing.  It needed some bacon fat or a ham hock or something to the next level.  This is the first of Emeril's recipes that I've cooked that I haven't been completely inspired by.  I know it may have had a lot to do with not being able to find the broccoli rabe, but I still just was not impressed by the soup.  That's okay though.  I still have a book to give away and more recipes to cook!

Finished Tuscan White Bean Soup with Broccoli

 Now, about that extra book copy that I have!

For participating in the blogger party I received a free copy of the book and also a copy to give away to a loyal Bite and Booze reader.  To win?  Make sure you follow Bite and Booze on Twitter or like my page on Facebook and leave a comment on this blog post telling me what you think about Emeril.  I'll take entries until September 27th and then I'll inform the winner about their new book that will be arriving!