Another dinner for two...ooh la la

This being a parent of two adults is really weird, but something a person could get used to. My husband is more eager and usually more accepting of my experiments, so when my daughters aren't going to be home making dinner is always a little easier.

In the case of last night, we had steaks topped with scallops and shrimp that were sauteed in pepper bacon and shallots. It was delicious. It was a great meal for a kid-less night because one child won't eat steak or anything from the sea and the other won't seafood.

As always I like to treat my steaks very simple so that the flavor from the beef shines through. I prefer a drizzling of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic gently massaged into the meat a few hours prior to cooking, but think one of these days I'm going to have to try some of seasoning applications that Michael Chiarello uses, they always look amazing.

I approach seafood the same way. I rinsed and removed the abductor muscle from all of my scallops, peeled and deveined my shrimp. I mixed them gently with salt and pepper and set them aside while I sauteed the pepper bacon and shallots in a little olive oil. I wish I would have had a red pepper to add to the mix because that would have added a little zing to brighten things up. That's the great thing about cooking, you can always do it a little different the next time because there is always room for improvement.

Shrimp and Scallops

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 lb. scallops, rinsed with abductor muscle removed
3-4 tblsps. olive oil
3 thick cut slices of pepper bacon, diced (could use pancetta or regular bacon too)
2 shallots, sliced
salt/pepper to taste

In a large heavy bottomed skillet (I got all my pots and pans from our local Restaurant Store) drizzle olive oil, heat on medium - high heat. When oil is hot, add pepper bacon and shallots. Saute till shallots are transparent and bacon begins to crisp. Push bacon and shallots to the edges of the pan. Place scallops, one at a time, in the center of the pan. Sear scallops on each side between 2-3 minutes or until it is nicely caramelized and starts to become white about half way up the side. Flip scallop and repeat above on other side. Remove scallops to a warm plate and tent with tin foil to keep warm. Add cleaned and de-veined shrimp to center of the pan where the scallops were and stir gently until bright pink, maybe another 2-3 minutes. Shrimp cook even faster than scallops. Remove shrimp to the plate with scallops. I didn't put the shrimp and scallops in the pan to cook until the steaks had come off the grill and were set aside to rest so that the juices had a chance to absorb back into the meat.

Steaks
I always go to the butcher and get what ever is fresh and looks good that day. I don't always get the same cut of meat, but am always certain it will be nice because I shop at the same places all the time.

After seasoning my steaks I let them marinate in a plastic bag in the fridge after massaging the seasonings in.

Looking forward to more dinner for two. The possibilities are endless and I'm going to take advantage of it until he is tired of trying new things :O).
hugs
dina