Now that Lent is here, I have even more incentive to try new seafood recipes to incorporate more sustainable seafood into our diet. This was actually our Shrove Tuesday pancake meal, but we will definitely be making it again. Shellfish is loaded with nutrients (scallops with vitamin B12) and while my son isn’t yet slurping raw oysters, he has no problem eating shrimp or fried clam strips. This was the first time I tried giving him scallops, and he was skeptical but ate several bites. Scallops overcook very quickly, so don’t make the mistake I did of cooking the seafood first — cook the crepes and keep them warm in the oven while you prepare the etouffee and scallops.

Recipe: Shrimp & Scallop Crepes Etouffee

Ingredients:

Crepes

• 3 eggs
• 1 c milk
• 3/4 c buckwheat flour
• 1/4 unbleached flour
• 1/4 t salt

Etouffee

• 1/2 pound jumbo wild-caught US shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 small white onion, finely diced
• 2 celery ribs, finely diced
• 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon tapioca starch (or corn starch)
• 1/3 cup water
• 6 large diver-caught scallops, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper
• Tabasco (optional)

Instructions:

Crepes: Whisk together crepe ingredients until combined. Cook on a large cast iron skillet or crepe pan, and transfer to cookie sheet in warm over to keep warm.

Etouffee: Melt butter in skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, celery and red pepper and cook until tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Add shrimp and cook 2 minutes, until shrimp begins to turn pink. Dissolve tapioca starch and water and add to pan. Stir, then cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Scallops: Warm olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Add scallops to pan and cook 2 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown. Flip scallops and add butter to pan. Cook 2-3 minutes more, until just cooked through. (Scallops should be opaque and just firm to the touch.)

Fill crepes with a spoonful of shrimp etouffee, fold and serve with scallops on the side. Add a few dashes of Tabasco if you like a little heat. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

For more scallop inspiration, check out this yummy Lemon-Thyme Scallop recipe from one of my favorite new foodie kids’ blogs, Chow Mama.

Note: Shellfish is not recommended for children before one year of age, and possibly longer if there is a family history of allergies. Our pediatrician advised us to wait until 18 months, but check with your own doctor if you have not yet introduced shellfish.

The second installment of Eric Ripert’s Dinner Social event was a holiday cocktail party theme. We were having trouble finding a slot on our calendars and wound up doing a cocktail brunch. What better way to start a day than with some festive cocktails and hors d’ouevres?

photo by Alison

Alison of The Humble Gourmand hosted this time, and prepared the cranberry champagne cocktails, pita and spreads, and lettuce-wrapped beef rolls.

Tiffany of The Garden Apartment made the wonderfully crisp and flavorful cheese straws with cayenne and pistachios, and shrimp and chorizo skewers.

April of The Food Scribe made creamy smoked salmon deviled eggs — with creme fraiche in lieu of mayonnaise — and spiked apple cider.

And I made the portobella mushroom fries with truffled aioli and the ginger-infused bourbon smash. The fries were simple, seasoned with good pecorino and dried thyme, and were definitely addictive. The toddler even enjoyed the leftovers, asking for more when they ran out. I will definitely be making them again soon!

The cocktail called for muddling fresh ginger, lemon slices, and sugar cubes. Instead I made a ginger simple syrup (1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 2-inch peeled piece of fresh ginger, sliced; bring to boil, cover and reduce to low simmer for 10 minutes), then muddled lemons and a little more fresh ginger. I don’t usually like bourbon but I really enjoyed the blend of the smoky liquor with ginger and lemons.

It was a shame we were rushed to get on with our other obligations for the day, but it was a fun time enjoying great food (and photography practice) with friends. If you have a cocktail party on your agenda, check out Chef Ripert’s recipes for some tasty inspiration.

This Presto Pasta Night dish meets two of my healthier cooking goals — whole grains added by using buckwheat soba rather than a standard white pasta, and added greens by incorporating fresh chard. The sauce was inspired by a Coconut Shrimp Soup recipe from Martha’s Everyday Food.

Recipe: Coconut Shrimp Soba
adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled (thawed, if frozen)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 garlic scape*, chopped (optional)
• 1 T fresh ginger, grated
• 1 small bunch chard*
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
• 1 t corn starch
• 2 green onions*, sliced
• 4-5 leaves basil*
• juice of 1 lime
• red pepper flakes or chili garlic sauce
• soba noodles

Instructions: Cook soba according to package instructions. While pasta cooks, heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, scape and ginger and cook 1 minute. Add chard, saute 2 minutes. Add coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add shrimp and cook 1 minute (if pre-cooked, 4 minutes if uncooked). Stir in lime juice, basil and green onions and remove from heat. Add red pepper/chili sauce to taste and toss with cooked soba noodles. (I dish up the toddler’s first, then add the peppers.)

Notes: Pre-cooked and peeled frozen shrimp is a handy freezer staple for quick weeknight meals. I bought Florida Key West Pink Shrimp this time, which prompted a mock complaint from the husband that it wasn’t local enough. Well, local is relative when buying seafood at Whole Foods … or most grocery stores. Buying seafood sustainably is a difficult endeavor, so when in doubt I often settle for buying American.

* Local ingredients from our Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA.

Submitted to Presto Pasta Nights, created by Once Upon A Feast and hosted this week by Scientist in the Kitchen.

Don’t Forget: Comment to help farmers, and enter to win!

This was an easy pasta dish made easier with a few Trader Joe’s favorites – cooked, peeled frozen shrimp and Ginger Soy Broth, plus my own prepped and frozen broccoli and garlic scape pesto from last week. I also used TJ’s flax seed pasta to fulfill my Whole Grains Challenge quota for the day. (OK, so it was 1 of 3 meals, but every small step counts, right?)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 bag flax seed fusili
• 3 c ginger soy broth (added to water to boil pasta)
• 1 c frozen broccoli
• 1 bag shrimp, thawed and tails removed
• 2 T garlic scape pesto* (or whatever kind you have on hand)
• 1/2 T olive oil
• 1 t roasted sesame oil
• 1/3 c cashews

Instructions: I added the 3 c of ginger soy broth to the pasta water. Cook pasta as instructed, adding broccoli for final 2 minutes. Reserve cooking water for later. Heat pesto and oils in skillet over medium heat. Add shrimp and cook just a couple minutes, about 3-4, adding cashews for final minute. Toss with cooked pasta, broccoli, and about 1/4 c of the pasta water. Enjoy!

* Recipe: Garlic Scape Pesto

Take one bunch of garlic scapes (3-4) and chop into 1 inch pieces. Add to food processor with 1/4 c olive oil, 1/4 c nuts of your choice (I used cashews, pecans and pistachios are also great), and 1/4 c parmiaggano cheese. Chop till fine. This is pretty potent, so use with care!

Toddler Notes: I believe this was the first time we really served shrimp to the toddler. He wasn’t interested the first night, but ate one bite the second. He ate all his broccoli first and then stole every last piece off the husband’s plate, before getting to the noodles. Hooray for broccoli!

Submitted to Presto Pasta Nights, created by Once Upon a Feast and hosted this week by Closet Cooking.