Scallops and Snow Peas with Salsa

Scallops aren’t cheap, and when you get a chance to buy some in bulk at a reasonable price, do so. Costco has deals all the time, but be prepared to buy enough for three meals. What I do is break the bulk and repackage the purchase into two or three packages of a dozen large scallops each, using my vacuum food saver.

Actually, you can substitute the salsa with any kind of sauce you want. If you’re in the mood for Italian, use marinara sauce. Country gravy is good, and if you want French instead, use a beurre blanc.

Ingredients

• SNOW PEAS, approximately two dozen in the pod
• SEA SCALLOPS, 12 large, each cut in half horizontally
• ONION, ¼ of a large or ½ of a medium, sliced
• GARLIC SALT, to taste
• BUTTER, 2 tablespoons
• OLIVE OIL, ¼ cup
• SALSA, commercial brand (I use Pace Mild), ¼ to ½ cup 

Directions

1. Prepare, rinse and dry the scallops, seasoning lightly with garlic salt.
2. String the peas if necessary, and boil until just tender in water seasoned with garlic salt. Drain and set aside.
3. Sear the scallops in a hot pan with olive oil and butter until barely cooked through, remove from heat and set aside.
4. Sauté the onions in the buttered pan.
5. Add in the snow peas, then the scallops, including any juices.
6. Add in the salsa and heat through.
7. Serve with rice or tortillas.

Apple-Pinoli Bread Pudding

Pinoli are shelled pine nuts with a very distinctive and mild nutty flavor all their own. This recipe is a “tinkered-with” recipe of one I have used for a while, this time adding in some chopped apples and toasted pinoli instead of my usual raisins.

Use a stale French baguette (the skinny, long loaf); the staler and drier the bread is, the better it will soak in the custard liquid. If your bread is fresh, dry it in the refrigerator overnight. That’ll do the trick.

If you bake it for 45 minutes, the top will be nice and crusty, and the inside pretty moist. If you prefer a drier bread pudding, then leave it longer in the oven.

Ingredients

• BREAD, 1 French baguette
• BUTTER, 4 tablespoons, melted
• EGGS, 8 beaten
• MILK or HALF AND HALF, 4 cups
• SUGAR, 1½ cups
• CINNAMON POWDER, 2 teaspoons
• NUTMEG, ½ teaspoon
• VANILLA EXTRACT, 4 teaspoons
• PINE NUTS, ¼ to ½ cups, shelled and lightly stove-top toasted
• APPLE, 1 large, ½-inch diced

Directions

1. Using a serrated bread knife, cut the French baguette bread in half lengthwise, then cut each half in half the same way. Cut crosswise into 1-inch cubes (see the introduction, re drying the bread overnight if necessary).
2. Prepare the pine nuts and apple; combine them with the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add the bread cubes.
3. Let it soak for a while (15 minutes should be okay, as long as the bread becomes wet throughout.
4. Pour the bread mixture into an 11x9 pan and spread evenly.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour in a 350˚ oven.
6. Remove from oven and let stand for a half-hour before serving.