Friday night used to be all about going out to see live music for me and my friends. I am now in a band, and play out on one or two weekends a month, and as life goes on and we get old (er), when Friday night rolls around, the energy to go to a crowded club just isn't always there. Sometimes you just have to blow it all off and stay home on the couch and watch TV... like a loser. Hence, "Loser Friday". Last Friday, Erika studied for about 10 -12 hours for a major test, that if she passes (meaning, if she gets 93% correct) means she doesn't have to take an extra, very expensive graduate course. She was, understandably stressed, and when I asked her what I could prepare for dinner that would make her feel better, she simply told me, "something comforting". So with tears in my eyes, I headed of to the gym for my swim, and to get out of there and leave her alone. While swimming laps, as is my custom, I thought about food. It would be too late to make the all time go-to comfort food, my spaghetti and meatballs, by the time I got home. So I came up with seafood and pasta. Simple, yes I know, but success in this venture has always just eluded me. When I got to the supermarket, I saw that both the Jumbo Shrimp, and the Bay Scallops were on sale, and the die was cast.
To the left are my prepped ingredients, all ready to go like on the TV shows. My "Mise En Place", if you will. You want to do this for a dish like this because you will not have time to prep ingredients as you go.
Top from left: Whole Wheat Linguine; Fresh ground Pepper; Kosher Salt; 1 cup White Wine (sweet this time, a Moscato) Middle Row: Smashed and chopped garlic (1.5 Tbsp); 12 Jumbo Shrimp (deveined, peeled); 1/2# Bay Scallops; 2 Tbsp fresh Thyme leaves (pulled from the stems); 1/4 cup chopped Italian Parsley
Bottom Row: Two slices thick cut bacon, cut into 1/2 wide slices; 1.5 cups diced, seeded, salt-sweated, rinsed and dried Tomatoes (very important not to add a lot of liquid with the tomatoes); Two Shallots minced; about 2/3 cup homemade Creme Fraiche.
I started by cooking the Shallots in 2 Tbsp butter, then adding the bacon. I had intended to cook the bacon first and drain it, but forgot to pull it from the fridge first! (So much for Mise En Place!!)
When the bacon and shallots were near finished, I added the rest of the aromatics (the garlic and fresh herbs).
Then I added the seafood, making sure that all pieces were separated and cooking properly.
When the seafood was half cooked, I added the tomatoes...
followed by the wine. You want to add the wine early enough to burn out the alcohol without overcooking the Shrimp. If I was more dramatic, I could have burned the alcohol off, I suppose.
A minute later, with the wine cooking off and the tomatoes cooking down, almost ready...
for the Creme Fraiche. My first batch of homemade Creme Fraiche turned out a little thin, and when I stirred it in I realized that between the wine, tomatoes and thin Creme Fraiche, the sauce was a little thin. So working fast, I added two teaspoons corn starch to a couple ounces of water, stirred till smooth, then added to the sauce, stirring constantly. One minute later...
...I was plating my first successful seafood pasta dish. I didn't show the cooking of the pasta, but you pretty much drop it in the water about the same time you put the Shrimp and Scallops in the pan.
Served with some grated Parmesan Cheese, a couple glasses of the Moscato, and of course, a super-sized portion of Me, It was all the comforting Erika needed for a nice relaxing Loser Friday!
As a note, I used Moscato because it was the only white whine I had in the house at the time. A lot of people will find it way too sweet for their palate. I thought it worked nicely in the dish, with the tartness of the Creme Fraiche and the acidity of the tomatoes. You may use any white wine you are partial to.
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