Vegetable Salads, Seafood, Spring Flowers

Whenever I’ve been away from blogging for awhile, I’m never quite sure where to begin to catch up. It’s been a month now, and I have a sizable backlog of meals and photos, so I am exploring ways to share those with you in a way you’ll find interesting.

As I scan through a month’s photos, I find a few themes that emerge, so I’ll do a few posts later around those categories. Right now, though, here is one in the more traditional style of what we were eating, drinking, and enjoying about a month ago.

Beet and Berry Salad Recipe

Barbara made a vividly colorful and delicious salad with this recipe from Fine Cooking magazine. I added some Purple Daikon Radish, as well.

On the platter

Seafood — Sable Fish, Scallops

Occasionally, we buy fresh or frozen seafood from Browne Trading Company in Portland, Maine. They are expensive, but have very high quality products. One of my favorite fish is Sable (or Black Cod), rich in flavor and very high fish oil content. It made a superb lunch when pan-roasted and served with cherry tomatoes and a glass of 2016 Sauvignon Blanc from Andrea Formilli Fendi. The acid from both provided good balance to the fish oil flavors.

Sea scallops are another seafood we enjoy on rare occasions. Our local General Store has a high-quality seafood distributor who is much closer and less expensive than Browne Trading, and they sell fish in town here on Fridays, so I tried their scallops. I bought two pints. The first batch we pan-seared on salt flakes — normally a good method for me. However, this time they were tough and rubbery, so perhaps I overcooked them.

When at first, you don’t succeed….try another recipe. Returning to my comfort zone of Italian cucina, I decided to try Scallops with Capers, Anchovies, Lemon, and Wine, from Biba Caggiano’s book, Biba’s Italy. It was a real winner!! Paired with Jan D’Amore’s 2018 Pantaleone Chicca, it was marvelous and tender.