Happy Valentine's Day

A vintage valentine served on a lovely Royal Dalton "Cheadle" tea tennis set.

Tennis sets were very popular at the turn of the century to allow a person to carry tea and tea-time treats -- crustless sandwiches, hot buttered toast, scones, and little pastries -- to the table at the same time. Fancy society who held endless tea parties to suit almost any occasion is, no doubt, responsible for the term.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Scallops with Mint Pesto and Couscous

We had dinner at Singer's house on Wednesday and she made the most delicious pan-fried scallops with mint pesto served on a bed of whole wheat couscous.

Yum.

Before I share the recipe, a word about couscous. It is a grain, typical in Middle Eastern cuisine. Traditional couscous is “semolina sprinkled with water and rolled with the hands to form small pellets, sprinkled with dry flour (to keep them separate), and then sieved.” The instant couscous we enjoy has been pre-prepared and dried and is then rehydrated with liquid…I use chicken or vegetable broth. You can add anything you’d like to couscous such as pine nuts, chopped mint, cilantro, thyme, parsley, raisins, figs, and apricots…anything to gussy up an otherwise basic side dish!

Now for the star of Wednesday’s show!

Scallops with Mint Pesto
From: Martha Stewart

Ingredients
2 cups packed fresh mint leaves (from about 2 bunches)
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove

Directions
In a food processor, place mint, cup oil, 3 tablespoons pine nuts, lemon juice, and garlic. Process until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes; thin with water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve this dish, place a cup or so of couscous prepared according to directions on a plate, place the scallops that have been pan seared on the bed of couscous, then top with the mint pesto and garnish pine nuts.

Elegant and so delicious!

Foodie finished a gorgeous shawl she made to supplement the inventory for the grand reopening of BEAdazzle!, the gift shop at the art center to which we all belong. It's made from a lovely pink and purple self-striping yarn. The pattern calls for knitting on a bias...starting from one point and ending at the other. Foodie found this pattern on ravelry.com.

I’m working on a project using self striping yarn too. It is a pretty substantial shawl that requires six (yes, count em, six) balls of yarn. I just started ball four. It is a straight-forward but time consuming pattern on size 8 needles. It is a gift…hopefully the recipient is not reading this post!

Downton Abbey Cottage Pie

Why watch the Super Bowl when there is a perfectly acceptable alternative that offers intrigue, passion, deceit, and the occasional laugh?

Bonus....it’s a British production.

And, the costuming is more appealing and the characters are less dodgy. Well, there is the cheeky lady's maid and her conniving sidekick, the footman. And let's not forget the valet's wretched ex-wife, the crooked newspaper mogul, and that little trollup of a maid.

Oh, there's the Turkish diplomat who suffered an untimely and scandalous demise and the scullery maid who's neither mean or manipulative, just maddening.

Besides them, this show offers a refined cast of characters.

My Wednesday evening dinner mates and I gathered for a Downton Abbey marathon on Sunday evening and we thought serving something British was in order so we enjoyed Cottage Pie along with a few pints of Boddingtons.

Wikipedia informs me that Cottage Pie or Shepherd's Pie is a meat pie using any kind of leftover meats and vegetables with a mashed potato crust. Commoners typically made the dish and the name "Cottage" originated from the term describing the modest dwellings of the rural workers who commonly ate the same.

The movie, The Holiday, featured one such cottage. Blimey, I wouldn’t mind that “modest dwelling.”

"Shepherd's pie" is sometimes incorrectly used synonymously with "cottage pie" however, the term “shepherd” is only correct if the dish is made with mutton or lamb...because shepherds herd sheep and not cattle.

What is mutton anyway? The meat of a sheep?

COTTAGE PIE

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (the fattier cuts are probably the tastiest)
1 onion chopped
2 tablespoons garlic
1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, peas
1 can of corn
4 large potatoes
1 stick of butter, divided
1/2 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

Directions
Peel and cut the potatoes and boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

While the potatoes are cooking, melt 1/2 a stick of butter in large frying pan. This will seem like a lot of butter...it's not. Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and the carrots and sauté for another 2-3 minutes more, then add the peas.

Add ground beef and Worcestershire and sauté until browned. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep the mixture moist moist.

Mash the potatoes with the remaining butter, season to taste and add a bit of milk if they are too thick. I mash potatoes in the very pot I boiled them in….it’s still hot, keeping the potatoes warm and there is one less dish to wash!

Add the corn to the beef mixture and place it in a baking dish, then spread the mashed potatoes on top.

Cook in 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Broil for last few minutes to brown the potatoes.

Herbes de Provence

We had dinner at Architect’s on Wednesday evening and she made a roasted chicken…nobody makes a roasted chicken like Architect.

As I explained in a previous post, she fills the cavity with onions and a lemon (this time she used an orange), and sprinkles the bird with salt, pepper and seasonings, mainly Herbes de Provence, then she sits the bird upright on this contraption and roasts it on her barbeque grill. For the first 15 minutes, she sets all burners on high, then she turns the center burner off and continues cooking over a medium flame for another 60-75 minutes.

We’ve had a mild winter (so far) so the grill is still an option.

Herbes de Provence is a mixture of savory, fennel, basil, thyme, lavender and other herbs typical of Provence, France traditionally gathered along the French countryside. This pretty and delicious blend of herbs is perfect peppered on meats, fish and added to stews and soups.

Architect served the chicken with white and sweet potatoes and carrots roasted in her new oven that she acquired due to the previously mentioned flood courtesy of a destructive little critter. We also managed to polish off 2 ½ bottles of wine.

Foodie helped me correct another knitting blunder...I watched and I think I may be (finally) beginning to understand how to confidently correct mistakes.

This statement may prove to be a bit too cocky.

The Opera Singer

Daughters and I decided to have dinner at Fellini Café in Media last Monday night and, as is the case every Monday night, it was Opera Night. Younger daughter’s voice teacher serenaded us…it was beautiful. Listen to a sample performance on Opera Night here.

For some reason we can’t upload our video…I will keep trying!

There was a special that night…Roasted Capellini al Pesto and let me tell you it was tasty. As I’ve been known to do, I asked our server to recommend a dish for me and she suggested this harmony of roasted capellini, shrimp, scallops and broccoli tossed in a red pepper cream sauce that was a melody for my senses indeed!

Roasted Capellini al Pesto
Ingredients
12 oz Capellini, uncooked
1 - 7oz jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1 1/4 cup light cream
1/3 cup pesto, homemade or store bought
Grilled shrimp, scallops, chicken
Any vegetable desired

Directions
Pan roast the pasta in some olive oil until it’s just a bit brown. Cook pasta and drain. In the same skillet heat 1 tbsp olive oil and add red peppers, cook 1 minute. Add the cream and simmer until thick, about 3 minutes. Stir in pesto sauce and immediately remove from the heat. Toss with the capellini and top with freshly grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese. Add shrimp, scallops, chicken, vegetables or anything else you desire!