A Perfect Meal

Every so often I happen upon a wonderful, memorable meal, and I just want to savor the moment. Yesterday, sick to death of the same old, same old round of meals (no more chicken, please! tired of spinach, green beans, blah blah blah) I went to the fish market looking for inspiration. They had scallops (ocean scallops and bay scallops) that looked pretty good, so I bought some, thinking they cook up pretty quickly, and I could throw something together after Little Sir's karate class.

The result was mmmmmmmmm...

Here's what I did:

Mediterranean Scallops
serves 4

Ingredients:
2 TBL butter
1 1/2 lbs bay scallops (could use sea scallops)
3 medium-sized tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 lemon
1 package pilaf
(flavor or your choice)
1 large loaf Italian bread


Prepare rice (plain or pilaf, your choice. As it's cooking, based on how much time it will take, start the following.)

Put about 2 TBL butter in a large shallow (fry) pan, on low heat to melt.
Cut up 3 medium-small sized tomatoes into about 3/4" chunks, add to melted butter.
As the tomatoes are sauteeing, slice 2 sections of garlic and set aside (for maximum potency or flavor and nutrient-absorption, they're supposed to "rest" for at least 10 minutes after slicing/chopping, before cooking.)
Rinse a big bunch of parsley (we like Italian parsley) and pull off the leaves...about enough to fill a dinner plate 1/2 - 3/4" high. Discard the stems. Set aside.
Rinse the scallops and set aside to drain.
Squeeze the juice from 1 lemon, set aside.

Once 10 minutes has passed since slicing the garlic, add garlic and parsley to tomatoes. Once garlic is soft, add lemon juice, and a minute later add the scallops.

Once the scallops are fully cooked, white all the way through, it's ready to serve!

Serve the scallops and mixture over the pilaf with some warm Italian bread. Bon appetit!



**you could substitute olive oil for the butter. I usually do use it instead, but sometimes the garlic burns too quickly, and the temperature needed for the rest is too high. Butter works better for me with this recipe.