Ok…. just so you know, I wrote this on 12/02/2013 but then my director decided to take me out to get sloshed last night so I’m posting a day late! Boom.
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Yesterday it was Shrove Tuesday, typically known as the day when EVERYONE makes pancakes and everywhere that sells pancakes makes a killing and has ridiculous queues. My Old Dutch and the pancake stall on Berwick Street were high on my AVOID list.
Instead of “celebrating” Shrove Tuesday I decided to celebrate Valentines Day two days early – known to me as Valentines Day Eve, Eve. Why? Because the OH is off to Paris today for work. Oh yes. Paris. The city of romantics. He won’t be in Paris for Valentine’s Day though. He will be in Tunisia by tomorrow. When I heard this I asked him “don’t your company consider events when planning your work trips?” His reply “yes, except that they don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day in a Muslim country”. Touché.
So here’s what I made:
Scallops wrapped in bacon on pea purée for starter.
scallops wrapped in bacon with pea puree
RECIPE
Ingredients:
6 scallops
6 rashers smoked streaky bacon
Black pepper
250g frozen peas
1 heaped tablespoon crème fraîche
Pinch of salt
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Wrap the bacon around each scallop, spearing it through the middle with a toothpick to keep it all together. Arrange on a roasting tray and bake at 200°C for 25 minutes, or until the bacon has started to turn crisp and the scallop is just cooked through.
Meanwhile, boil the peas for four minutes. Blitz in a food processor with the crème fraîche and a pinch of salt. Serve the scallops on top of the pea purée with a grinding of black pepper.
Haddock Provençal sauce served with rosemary potatoes.
Haddock with provencal sauce and rosemary potatoes
RECIPE
Ingredients | For the sauce:
25g/1oz butter
1 onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
250ml/9fl oz passata
200ml/7fl oz red wine
100ml/3½fl oz fish stock
100g/3½oz black olives, stones removed
2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 green pepper, very finely sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients | For the haddock
4 x 150g/5oz haddock fillets
3 tbsp flour, for dusting
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
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For the sauce, melt the butter in a pan over a high heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry until softened.
Add the passata, wine and stock and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Add the olives, tarragon and green pepper and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Preheat the oven to 180C/360F/Gas 4.
For the haddock, dredge the haddock fillets in the flour and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the fish and fry for 1-2 minutes on both sides, until golden-brown all over.
Transfer the haddock fillets to an ovenproof dish and pour over the sauce. Place into the oven to cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the haddock is cooked through.
To serve, place a haddock fillet onto each of four plates and spoon the sauce over. Serve with sautéed or roast potatoes.
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For dessert we had Marks and Spencer apple pie. Yes I could have made dessert but frankly I am a working gal and spending the whole evening in the kitchen does not make for a fun Tuesday evening.
Because I know you’re all dying to see a pic of pancakes to prove I can make them. Here’s some I made earlier (about three months ago). My pancakes ROCK.
pancakes with bacon, scrambled eggs and maple syrup
Love FoodieClaire x
Credits:
Jesus, Claire! If I’m ever invited over to yours for dinner, I’d like to request the scallops with bacon and the haddock provencale purleeze.
I mean, WOW. *drools*
I’m saving as hard as I can to buy a house and then I can’t wait to have dinner parties