Shortcut: Scallops With White Wine & Orange Sauce

If you don't already know, this blog's raison d'être is to provide accessible yet still impressive recipes for the busy home cook (with a day job!). With that in mind, many of the dishes we feature can be prepared in well under an hour, most less than a half hour, and still more in mere minutes. One of the things that delights me most is when I can consult Neurotic Kitchen for a recipe. Cooking from your own blog is gratifying in itself, but being able to take the place of your reader is especially instructive. I'll inevitably go back and edit myself so that the method is that much easier for you. 

Seared Scallops with White Wine & Orange Sauce, Photo: NK

While we're on the subject, another thing that gives me a thrill is short-handing staple recipes when I am even more pressed for time than usual. You cook something enough, you get to know if by heart - so why not simplify it even further if the situation warrants? In fact, the more confident you become as a cook, the more you'll find yourself able to achieve similar results in half the time by taking the essence of a recipe and changing up the preparation for ease and speed. That's how most of Neurotic Kitchen's recipes are born, and how my standard splurge dish of Scallop With Citrus Beurre Blanc morphed into today's even speedier (I am talking minutes, here) Shortcut Scallop with White Wine and Orange Sauce. 

This cliff notes version of a fancier dish is a great weeknight recipe that's ready lightening quick. Under ten minutes to be exact. Do try our full-on Scallops With Orange Beurre Blanc recipe when you have a little bit more time and are looking to impress! 

Shortcut Seared Scallops with White Wine & Orange Sauce 
Serves 2 as an appetizer or light entree 

Ingredients: 
10-12 Large Sea Scallops, tough muscle removed
1 Small Shallot, chopped
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil + an extra drizzle
1/8 Cup Wine
1/4 Cup Orange Juice
1 Tablespoon of Butter
1/3 Cup Minced Parsley
Salt & Pepper

Method:

1. Pat very dry and season Scallops with Salt and Pepper.

2. Heat Oil in a skillet over medium heat. Swirl to cover evenly.  

3. When Oil is shimmering, add the Scallops and cook, untouched, until caramelized on one side, about 2-3 minutes. They should detach from the skillet easily, or with a gentle scape from a metal spatula. Flip Scallops and finish cooking for another minute or so until firm and opaque. Remove Scallops to a plate. 

4. In the skillet, drizzle a bit more oil of needed and add the Shallots. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften and become translucent - 4 to 5 minutes. 

5. Now add the Wine and Orange Juice. Bring the liquid to a boil and allow to bubble until it reduces to about a third of its original volume. This will happen quickly!

6. Turn off the heat and add Butter. Stir it until it melts. Finish by adding Parsley. 
To serve, plate the Scallops and Drizzle with the Orange Sauce. Enjoy!

Baking Away the Blues - Barefoot Contessa Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Hey winter! You stink.
Yeah, you could say we are pretty much over this gray, gloomy and bone chilling season. Our vitamin D thoroughly depleted, we want nothing more than a few sun rays to help us smile a bit bigger and just generally lighten up. It's a lot easier to look on the bright side and not have a short fuse when you have cookies. In particular, these cookies. 

Salty Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies Baked By My Hubby!  Photo: NK

That's why we're sharing our latest recipe obsession, Ina Garten's Salty Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies. 

We've made them a few times (the recipe yields a ton and they make great gifts) and they are really pretty flawless. We wouldn't recommend making any changes to the recipe,  not that I normally quibble with the Contessa. 

These cookies solve a major problem in our household. That is, my husband finds Oatmeal Raisin cookies to be worthy desserts where as I require there to be chocolate chips in most of my cookies for them to qualify as an after dinner treat. What's worse than biting into a a delicious cookie and finding a Raisin instead of a Chocolate Chip?? You know you've been there! These cover all the bases and are absolutely fantastic. Though I usually fall squarely in the chewy cookie camp, believe it or not, I think these are best crispy. Ina gives you instructions on how to achieve both textures. We did not have Fleur de Sel around so the only teensy change we made was to sprinkle French Grey Salt, another Sea Salt which is quite similar, atop the cookies.   

Below is the recipe, exactly as it appears on Barefootcontessa.com

                      Ina Garten's Salty Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
                      Yield: 28 - 30 Cookies 
                      Recipe exactly as it appears in Ina Garten's Make It Ahead 

Photo: NK 

Ingredients:  

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1¼ cups old-fashioned oats, such as Quaker

¾ pound bittersweet chocolate, such as Lindt, chopped in chunks

¾ cup dried cranberries

Fleur de sel

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 3 sheet pans with parchment paper.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. On low speed, add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl again.

Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Mix in the oats. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture. Don’t overbeat it! With a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate and cranberries until the dough is well mixed. With a 1¾-inch ice cream scoop (or two spoons), scoop round balls of dough onto the prepared sheet pans. Sprinkle lightly with fleur de sel. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until nicely browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*If you prefer cookies thin and crisp, bake them straight from the mixing bowl. If you prefer them chewy in the middle and crisp outside, chill the balls of dough.

Sweet Love - Valentines Recipe Roundup

Brownies! The Ultimate Valentine,  Photo: NK

That much anticipated, angsty day of love safely behind us, I thought it would be fun to give you a recap of our Valentines Day culinary escapades. As you know, I am a firm believer that Valentines day need not be solely about romantic love.  It can be as simple as doing something nice for yourself, which for me, usually means feeding my face with something really good. 

Predictably, that's just what we did last weekend, and I'd love to share what we ate with you. Special thanks to the hubby for choosing a fantastic menu and making almost every dish. 

But first, a cocktail:

This Pomegranate Gin Drink is the color of love. Basil gives it a refreshing, herbal quality... 

Photo: NK

Cocktail hour is not the same without a bite-sized nibble...

Stuffed Peppers Tapa. Photo: NK

so here's our hors d'oeuvre of Spanish Tapas (from Ina Garten's newest book Make It Ahead)

Then we absolutely had to crack

A lovely Bordeaux. 

Chateau Pierrail Bordeaux, 2011,  Photo: NK

For dinner, this beautiful Roast Chicken with Creme Fraiche and Herbs (by Mimi Thorisson, also in her new book, A Kitchen In France) was an ideal (and easy!) main.

Juicy Roast Chicken with Creme Fraiche & Herbs, Peas with Pancetta, Photo: NK 

A side of Peas and Pancetta, also by Ina Garten, paired perfectly with our very simple main course. 

Now, I ask you, what's Valentines day without a sweet? For us, it just had to be Brownies. And not just any...
Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies

My husband even made an extra batch to gift to our family. 
Cute heart-shaped cookie cutters from J Crew took these Brownies to the next level. 
(Paper Straws available from Spritz by Target)

Photo: NK

There you have it. Valentines Day 2015. A wonderful reason to cook and an excuse to indulge (as if we needed one). Until next year!

Party 1.2.3. - Make-Ahead Nibbles To Get Festive

Devils on Horseback, Photo: NK

What makes a dinner party memorable? For me, lots of little tastes (and a great cocktail!) followed by one satisfyingly simple main does the trick. In the case of our last little get-together,  we made my mom's really fantastic (and make ahead) recipe for Sausage and Peppers as our entree. We served it alongside a simple and very delicious Vegetarian Pasta Salad from Food and Wine.

When you're devoting your energy to a main course and sides, you've go to keep the hors d'oeuvres simple - and ideally, make-ahead. Today, I'd like to remind you of two of our fave party bites. Both can be prepped ahead of your guests arrival and put into the oven just before you'd like to serve them and both are always, always, crowd pleasers.

1. Devils on Horseback are a classic party snack - they consist of Sweet Dates (sometimes Prunes) stuffed with Bleu Cheese and wrapped in thick-cut Bacon. What could go wrong??? Exactly. Nothing at all. Our favorite recipe for Devils is Martha Stewart's uber simple interperation of the classic. Click HERE for the recipe. Prep the Dates ahead and pop in the oven 25 minutes before you'd like to serve.

Mini Crab Cakes with Mustard Sauce, Photo: NK

2. Next up, one of our other hors d'oeuvre favorites, and a very popular hit here on Neurotic Kitchen, my Mini Crab Cakes in a Muffin Tin. Prepping these little tasty bites in a mini-muffin tin and baking them in the oven eliminates the usual muss and fuss that frying little crab cakes can create. With just a bit of prep, you can turn out 24 hors d'oeuvres in as long as these babies take to bake and transform into their golden brown delicious glory. Make the Mustard Topping and pour all the Crab Cake ingredients into the muffin tin. Start about 35 minutes before you'd like to serve. Click HERE for the recipe.

Curious about that Pasta Salad? Here's how it came out:

Simple and Delicious Pasta Salad, Photo: NK

Now just add your main dish and simple as that, you've got a great menu. You'll never cure me of my love for hors d'oeuvres. I often think I could just eat them and skip the main course. And I have! Add these two easy nibbles to your dinner party repertoire and your guests won't soon forget your effort. The fact that it wasn't all that much effort at all can be our little secret.