Ingredient Spotlight - Seared Scallops with Orange Beurre Blanc

Beurre Blanc:
A staple of haute cuisine. Fancy, tasty, yet oh so easy.

Photo: NK 

Master this accessible technique and your recipes will get oohs and ahhs in a jiffy. Beurre Blanc, or French emulsified butter sauce with white wine (plus lots of other goodness), is a component that adds luxury and rich, concentrated flavor to many dishes. Healthy it's not, but who doesn't love a heavenly butter sauce with a fancy-sounding french name? It really is as delicious as you might imagine.


Today's beurre blanc gets a twist from tangy oranges and ginger, making it a perfect foil to sweet, sautéed and gorgeously browned scallops. On the side - vibrant green cauliflower simply boiled until fork tender with a hint of lemon, salt and pepper. Pea shoots round out the meal with a fresh, springy flavor and bright green flourish to enhance the presentation. Here's how to execute this easy, delicious, and impressive dinner: 


Sauteed Scallops with Orange Beurre Blance, Pea Shoots and Green Cauliflower
Serves 2


Orange Beurre Blanc
Adapted from Beau McMillan's Recipe - The Food Network


1/2 Cup dry White Wine
1 Tablespoon Sherry Cooking Wine
1 1/2 Shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried Ginger Powder or fresh chopped Ginger
1 small Bay Leaf
1 stick Unsalted Butter, cut into small slices
1/8 cup Heavy Cream
1/4 cup Orange Juice
1 teaspoon grated Orange zest


Method:
In a medium sauce pan over high heat, combine wine, sherry, shallots, ginger and they bay leaf. Allow to boil and reduce until consistency is syrupy 

Add the cream and cook until mixture reduces slightly more. 


Turn the heat to medium low and remove the bay leaf. 


Mix in each pat of butter slowly, one by one, taking care not to let the sauce come to a boil.


When all the butter has been stirred in, add the orange juice. 

Beurre Blanc with an Orange Twist, Photo: NK

Keep the sauce warm on the lowest possible heat, stirring occasionally. 


When ready to serve, strain solids out of the butter sauce and drizzle over desired protein.


Next up, prepare the cauliflower followed by the seared Scallops:


Fork-Tender Green Cauliflower
Serves 2-3

1 head of Green Cauliflower
1 1/2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Salt
White or Black Pepper 

Gorgeous Green Cauliflower, Photo: NK

Method:
Boil generously salted water in a medium to large sauce pan. 
When boiling, add the cauliflower florets and lemon juice.
Cook until fork-tender, 5-7 minutes, strain, and add a dash of salt and pepper to season.


Seared Scallops 
Serves 2


1 Lb Dry Sea Scallops
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper


Method:
Trim the muscle off the side of the scallops. 
Rinse with water and then pat until thoroughly dried.
Add the butter and oil into a large sauté pan over very high heat. 
Season the scallops with salt and pepper, and add to the pan once the butter and oil begin smoking. 
Sear the scallops for 2 minutes on each side, creating a nice crust on each end. 
Remove from pan and serve immediately. 


To Finish:
Plate scallops and drizzle with beurre blanc. Garnish with Pea Shoots or other micro-greens, sliced Oranges, and serve alongside the green cauliflower. 


Enjoy! 

Seared Scallops with Orange Beurre Blanc, Pea Shoots, and Tender Green Cauliflower, Photo: NK

Easter Hors D'Oeuvres - French Cheese & Charcuterie Plate

Life comes with disappointments. Business deals fall apart, recipes don't work.

You know what's never let me down? A cheese plate.

I've mentioned cheese plates before on NK. I love them. So today, they'll be another one. They never get old. For a refresher of some principles for a winning cheese plate, go here: Cheese Plate How To

French Cheese and Charcuterie Plate Part 1, Photo: NK

For more Easter Dishes including some easy Sides, Salads, and Appetizers, visit NK's latest recipe collection HERE. 

I was bummed this past Friday. I had the day off to get ready for our Easter holiday but It didn't go as planned. My attempt to sleep late was unsuccessful, and I woke up to some stinky work news on my blackberry. Something that I'd been working on for months had fallen to pieces. Not out of the ordinary for my day job, but this was supposed to be my happy day!

Since my mother in law would be cooking for Easter, which happens to be my favorite holiday of the year, all I had to bring was hors d'oeuvres. Grumpy or not, ingredient shopping and prepping were to be the day's mission.

Lovely Easter Tablescape by Mr. NK's Mom! Photo: NK

More than any other culture, I associate the French with cheese, and France has been on my mind lately as the husband and I will be traveling there in May. It'll be my third time and his second. I went when I was ten and again at twenty. Seems that each decade I like to make a pilgrimage, although I am admittedly, a bit late. I loved France both visits, but I feel as if I will appreciate it even more now that I'm older. On the itinerary: a short stay in Paris, a day in Normandy, several days in a cute little town in the Loire Valley, and lots of fromage, to be sure. 

So it only stood to reason that my cheese plate, this year's hors d'oeuvre offering, should be French. As I headed out to buy the ingredients, my foul mood was soon turned upside down.

Seems our little town had come into full bloom just over night:

Photo:NK

Spring has definitely sprung! 

Some of the Cheese and Charcuterie Plate Ingredients, Photo: NK

Charcuterie, Part Deux - Pate, Pickles and Grainy Mustard, Photo: NK

French Cheese & Charcuterie Plate

Choose 3 or more types of cheese - Cow, Goat and Sheep

We used: 

Boucheron - Runny Goat, minimal tanginess & pleasant salinity

Ossau Iraty - Firm Mild Sheep's milk from the French Pyrenees

Saint Nectaire - Earthy Tasting Washed Rind Cow's milk

And now for the rest:

Saucisson Sec - French Dried Sausage similar to Soppressata, we like D'Artagnan Brand

Blackberry Jam - goes nicely with the Ossau Iraty, we prefer Bonne Maman brand

Country Pate, also known as Pate de Campagne, a rustic-style chunky pate

Pate Accompaniments:

Frisee is Pretty, Photo: NK

Cornichon Pickles, for the pate

Grainy Mustard, for the pate

Fruit, Starches, and Garnishes:

Grain Bread or Rye, for the pate

Dried Fruit, we used Turkish Apricots

Forelle Pears, because they are gorgeous 

Grapes - for taste, color and height

Crackers - nothing beats Carr's brand

Crusty French Baguette sliced thin

Frisee Lettuce and Parsley 



Design: Half the fun of a cheese plate is styling it. Experiment with varying heights and colors, and always be sure to let your creativity run wild. 


Next up, a delicious Tuna Tapenade Spread for alongside my cheese and charcuterie plate. With tuna, capers, and olives - a trinity of some of my favorite flavors - this spread reminds me of a the components of a very French Nicoise salad, or as my husband cutely pronounces it, A ni-co-ees salad. 

Ina Garten's Tuna Tapenade with Endives and Sliced Radishes, Photo: NK

Here's the link for the recipe: Crostini With Tuna Tapenade

We served this with endive leaves and sliced radishes because we already had a lot of bread and cracker action going on.


Voila!

I hope the joys of spring put a smile on all of your faces.

And when in doubt, just eat cheese!

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A Note to Readers

Hi All, 
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Restaurant Inspiration - Smoked Salmon & Goat Cheese Toasts over Field Greens

What inspires your recipe ideas?

For me, inspiration comes from so many sources. 

These days, places like Pinterest are a visual treasure trove of food ideas. It took me all of three minutes on the site to become fully obsessed. Of course, other blogs offer amazing ideas daily, and when I am feeling old fashioned, I like to page through my cookbooks, ideally while eating food and watching the Food Channel at the same time. 

                   
Inspiration supercharged.

A Few Of My Favorites, Photo: NK

Photo: NK

Then there will always be my old standby food mags - Every Day Food and Food and Wine are favorites. Gourmet is great when I'm looking for something fancy schmancy.


But by far, my favorite place to gleen inspiration is in restaurants and at other people's tables.

See, I'm a menu snatcher. I grab takeout menus everywhere I go. The best are those that not only list the dish, but include most of the recipe components as well. If something catches my eye, I'll sample it and then take note of the ingredients so I can adapt them on my own.

Today's dinner is wonderful salad inspired by the cute little modern Italian restaurant, Bruschetteria, on Rivington street in the Lower East Side. 


Bruschetteria is a favorite of mine because it offers simple and fresh small plates. It was on a  trip there some years ago that I first tried their Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese on Toast Points over Arugula, Capers, Red Onions, with a Lemon Vinaigrette. I enjoyed it so much that I've been making it ever since. I may be a bit biased because anything with smoked salmon, capers and red onion always makes me a happy woman. 

The adaptations I've made to this dish over the years are largely to husband-proof it. To give you an idea, the first time I made it, the Mr. asked where the rest of his dinner was. He's a peach, right? 


Next time, I added an avocado to make it heartier. He also groans when I give him a salad with only arugula. He'll eat arugula mixed with other greens, but alone, he doesn't like it - "too peppery", he says. I now do a mix of field greens with extra bread on the side - just in case he's still hungry.   

This weekend, after totally overindulging at Easter, we were both ready for something light. When you're feeling the same, this salad makes a great dinner. It's also super as an elegant luncheon dish. Maybe one of these days I will have reason to hold an "elegant luncheon," but to date, I have yet to do so. :)  

Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese on Toast Over Greens, Capers, Olives & Red Onions

Serves 2 - Inspired by Bruschetteria NYC 


What You'll Need:
4 Ounces Organic Mixed Greens
4 Ounces Smoked Salmon - preferably Wild Alaskan 
1/4 Large Red Onion, sliced thinly into half moons
1 teaspoon Capers plus more for Salmon Toasts
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed Lemon Juice
2 Lemon wedges for serving plus extra for squeezing
1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Ripe Hass Avocado, cut in half, pitted and flesh scored into cubes
10 Kalamata Olives, sliced
3 Ounces good quality Goat Cheese, preferably Boucheron, at room temperature
4 medium slices Russian Rye or bread of your choice, toasted



What To Do:


Cut Bread into four even slices, set in toaster. 

Next, place your Salad Greens into a Large Bowl.


Cut Onions thinly into Half Moons. Toss them into the salad greens, setting aside some of the slices to top the Salmon Toasts.

Next, slice each Avocado half in a crosshatch pattern as below. Run your knife along the skin all around to separate flesh. Leave Avocado in the skin until ready to use, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then top with a big squeeze of Lemon.

Ripe Hass Avocados - So Tasty, Photo: NK

To make dressing, toss 1 teaspoon of Capers in a small bowl with 1 teaspoon Olive Oil and 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice. Mix, crushing some of the Capers a bit with a fork to release their flavor. Set aside.


Pop Bread in the toaster oven to toast lightly. 


Toss chopped Olives into the bowl with the Salad Greens and pour on the Dressing. Toss thoroughly to distribute ingredients and dress. 


Next, place Avocado on top of Greens.

Remove Toast from the toaster and spread each slice with a good amount of Goat Cheese. 
Top each slice with a few pieces of Smoked Salmon, extra Capers, a few slices of Red Onion from what was set aside, and another big squeeze of Lemon Juice. 


To plate, serve 2 Salmon Toasts per dish. Perch them atop the salad greens. Serve with extra Lemon wedges. 


Enjoy! 

Finished Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese Toasts over Field Greens, Photo: NK

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