Scallops in Port Wine Sauce and Cheesy-Rice Ball Things
Some experiments in gastronomy this week that are worth sharing.
Okay, this one isn't that much of a recipe. As in, there isn't much too it, but it's worth noting that it's pretty yummy. I don't really have measurements or anything like that. It was all eyeballed.
I had about six jumbo scallops. Added oil and a bit of port wine to a frying pan. Heated it up, added the scallops and some maitake mushrooms. Saute till the scallops are tender. Remove them from the pan and allow them to drain (as I discovered, there's enough water in there that they'll leak moisture, so really- let them drain).
Keep the oil in the pan, add some more port wine and a small handful of flour (corn starch might work better, but I don't have any). Keep it over the heat and stir it up until the flour dissolves. You want something roughly the consistency of gravy here. Balance the port wine and the flour. Add a heaping helping of honey to the mix, kick the heat all the way up and get just some of the sugar caramelized. The end product should be a deep purple goo about the consistency of a very thick gravy.
Put the (drained) scallops and mushrooms on plates, pour the sauce over them. Serve with a side of wild rice. Delish
This is a little bit more fun. If you've got a deep fryer, great. If you're like me, pan frying this works, but a deep fryer would definitely be better.
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked rice.
A big ol' brick of the cheese of your choice.
1 egg.
Use whatever trick you prefer to get the rice nice and sticky. I use a rice cooker and like to add a drip of vinegar. Do whatever you do to get sticky rice.
Slice the cheese into rectangular blocks. You may need to experiment to figure out just the right size of the blocks depending on the variety of cheese you're using. Obviously, this needs to be something that's solid at room temperature. Very soft cheeses probably won't work well.
Whisk the egg and then blend it with the rice. Try and get it spread evenly. Essentially, we're going to be breading and frying the cheese, but with rice instead of bread crumbs. Grab globs of rice, pack them around the cheese. You want the cheese to be covered, but you don't want to make the globs too thick. Try and get it even.
Fry it until the outside is golden brown. I pan fried, and if you do that, be careful not to break the rice shell while you're flipping them. A deep fryer won't have this problem.
Voila. Fried cheesy rice ball things. Yummy.
Okay, this one isn't that much of a recipe. As in, there isn't much too it, but it's worth noting that it's pretty yummy. I don't really have measurements or anything like that. It was all eyeballed.
I had about six jumbo scallops. Added oil and a bit of port wine to a frying pan. Heated it up, added the scallops and some maitake mushrooms. Saute till the scallops are tender. Remove them from the pan and allow them to drain (as I discovered, there's enough water in there that they'll leak moisture, so really- let them drain).
Keep the oil in the pan, add some more port wine and a small handful of flour (corn starch might work better, but I don't have any). Keep it over the heat and stir it up until the flour dissolves. You want something roughly the consistency of gravy here. Balance the port wine and the flour. Add a heaping helping of honey to the mix, kick the heat all the way up and get just some of the sugar caramelized. The end product should be a deep purple goo about the consistency of a very thick gravy.
Put the (drained) scallops and mushrooms on plates, pour the sauce over them. Serve with a side of wild rice. Delish
This is a little bit more fun. If you've got a deep fryer, great. If you're like me, pan frying this works, but a deep fryer would definitely be better.
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked rice.
A big ol' brick of the cheese of your choice.
1 egg.
Use whatever trick you prefer to get the rice nice and sticky. I use a rice cooker and like to add a drip of vinegar. Do whatever you do to get sticky rice.
Slice the cheese into rectangular blocks. You may need to experiment to figure out just the right size of the blocks depending on the variety of cheese you're using. Obviously, this needs to be something that's solid at room temperature. Very soft cheeses probably won't work well.
Whisk the egg and then blend it with the rice. Try and get it spread evenly. Essentially, we're going to be breading and frying the cheese, but with rice instead of bread crumbs. Grab globs of rice, pack them around the cheese. You want the cheese to be covered, but you don't want to make the globs too thick. Try and get it even.
Fry it until the outside is golden brown. I pan fried, and if you do that, be careful not to break the rice shell while you're flipping them. A deep fryer won't have this problem.
Voila. Fried cheesy rice ball things. Yummy.