Seared Scallops with Green Peas, Mint and Shallots

I was looking online for things to serve with polenta and found the following:

Wondering What to Serve with Polenta? Here Are 27 Ideas, from Hearty to Healthy on the Pure Wow web site. As I scrolled down the page, I came to Idea #9 Seared Scallops with Green Peas, Mint and Shallots. The photo for this dish immediately captured my eye. This recipe was originally in Amanda Frederickson‘s cookbook, “Simple Beautiful Food.” The scallops had that beautiful brown crust, the peas were vibrant green and what’s that, “bacon?” “Yes, bacon, although the shallots are a little hard to see. And, I see no polenta anywhere in sight, but I can imagine adding a little dollop (okay, a little more than a dollop) of polenta or a couple of polenta waffles to soak up all those other flavors.

I looked at several images of dishes that were made from her book, and I decided to order the book from Amazon. I’ll try to turn the pages gingerly so I do not damage them, and this will become a gift at some point. The book was 240 pp. at about $18. *I did see that one reviewer of her book found reading some of it difficult because of the choice of text color on the pages’ background color. I’ve found that problem on some packaging too, and I don’t like really small text either.

I’m getting to an age where “this old dog ain’t gonna be learning too many new tricks,” and those few people that I know, who love food and cooking, are now older also and another cookbook isn’t as special a gift as in years earlier. But, the images of the food were captivating. I could actually prepare this scallops & peas dish. *In fact, I made some delicious peas & pastry with country ham recently and it was very pleasing. Now I know a photo of my peas, ham & pastry would not appear as beautiful as Amanda Frederickson’s photos, but my food was good. And, my pastry wasn’t hand made at home either.

Why was I looking for things to serve with polenta? Simple. I cut a few rounds of already prepared polenta, sometimes for breakfast with an egg, and sometimes for adding to green beans, bacon and potatoes. The polenta reminds me of when my Aunt Sis would add some cornmeal dumplings to her green beans. I’m not sure if she was adding them as filler or just as an interesting aside.

I made some homemade Pizza Sauce (about six simple ingredients and it tastes like Pizza Inn’s) for my Ciabatta Roll Pizzas and had some left over in a small jar in the refrigerator. So as I’m fixing a breakfast of scrambled egg, pepper bacon and some halved yellow grape tomatoes, I think to add a couple of slices of polenta. And then the thought comes to me to add some of the pizza sauce as a topping for the polenta. It was good, but it still needed something else. I’m thinking of trying fresh basil, and/or shredded cheese, and/or even a few slices of pepperoni. But, adding the pepperoni would begin to overpower the pepper bacon. But that’s why I was looking for things to go with polenta. Some extra flavors for my polenta at breakfast. *The idea for adding the pizza sauce to my polenta rounds was my own. I came upon the above “pizza rounds” afterwards.

Those Creamy White Beans look pretty good too! Cannellini beans, spinach, rosemary and chilies… hmmm?

I had made some cabbage (with a little chopped onion) slaw, with mayo, half-n-half and sweetener and put it in the refrigerator before I went out shopping this morning. I still had one of those tiny Tupperware containers with the remaining guacamole from yesterday in the fridge also.

I started some lentil soup on the stove top. I first added andouille sausage to the pot after stripping the sausage casing from it. I added a small amount of olive oil. I had about a half of a small onion which I diced finely and added to the pot with some chicken & beef broth and some brown and red lentils. I then diced one carrot, and several types of mild peppers and one small jalapeno pepper minus the seeds. The spice which I think is cumin I added it with some other spices, and a little more water. After this I let it all cook for a while and then I added a little orzo. I noticed that I had some steamed cabbage that had cooled and I tried a little cabbage with the lentil soup. It tasted good. Eventually I added the left-over steamed cabbage to the bowl of lentil soup. These two combined very well. It probably would go well even if I just added the cabbage to the soup and let it cook together. *The cold cabbage slaw went well with the spicy andouille & lentil soup, and I added a few of the white corn chips (Mission) and this just brought it all together.

I can make really good andouille & lentil soup, and I can make the same thing that doesn’t work. It’s the spices I add, but I can’t always remember what I put in the last good batch of soup. I had planned to put in some frozen chopped spinach, but just didn’t want to wait to unfreeze it, and it definitely didn’t need it to taste really good.

[NOTE 09/15/24]: Well, I just finished eating my scallops with green peas, shallots, bacon, and mint. And, I also added a dollop of polenta, which was the cause of my original online search. I was searching for things that go with polenta. I think this meal was better with the polenta than it would not have been. The photo is more appealing than the flavors in the meal, but the flavors are pleasant. After all, I like scallops, and bacon, and shallots, and garden peas and polenta.

I bought a mint plant at Publix instead of buying already pulled mint leaves in a pouch. I don’t think I had 1/4 cup of mint leaves, but perhaps half that. I’m thinking that I would like to see if tarragon instead of mint would fit my palate better. *I have been making Tarragon & Split Pea Soup for several years, but haven’t made it recently mainly because that soup and my Curried Apple Soup both affect my blood sugar levels negatively. But, I really do love the flavor of the Curried Apple Soup and I like it either warm or cold.

**I just googled for it and tarragon may be the more traditional flavoring with garden peas and scallops.

I’ve already put the mint in the pureed garden peas so I can’t see what adding just tarragon would do, but I might try a little tarragon with the mint. I may fix this again either tomorrow or within a couple of days as I have the left over pureed garden peas and the bacon/garden pea/shallot mixture. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 09/17/24]:

Quick Cabbage Slaw

1/2 red cabbage (shredded or chopped)
2 cups defrosted corn
2 shallots (sliced thin)
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 tablspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 handful mint (chopped)

I was looking for something to go with the Sea Scallops & Garden Peas and found the above recipe for Cabbage Slaw (using red cabbage). I already had the shallots and mint that are both in the Scallops & Garden Peas recipe, so there will be an echo of flavors. Not sure, but I may add some sweetener to this. And, I may add some dried Tarragon to the Garden Pea mixture.

Recall that today is my first day for my Ozempic injection. Since I didn’t have to take my Rybelsus tablet after midnight, I was able to have a cup of hot tea (Earl Grey) with some half-n-half. *A late note: The Ozempic has worked wonderfully. It has brought my resting blood sugar level down and my weight has remained steady within about 4 lbs. up/down.

I finished my second helping of my lentils & andouille soup (to which I also added some orzo) yesterday and I had some cabbage slaw left over. Because the lentils were spicy, the soothing nature of the slaw was very welcome. I like spicy, but not too hot, and when I get the spicy and physically hot soup just right, there are few things more pleasing.

I just finished my second helping of seared scallops & garden peas, and with sides of polenta and a red cabbage slaw with corn & mint. The only sweetness of this meal was from the garden peas. This was the most “savory” meal I’ve eaten in a long time. I normally add some sort of sweetener to either my slaw or on the meat I am cooking. There was only S&P and apple cider vinegar on the red cabbage slaw with corn. I’m not sure I would make this repeatedly, but it was a pleasant change from my norm. *The cookbook I ordered, “Simple Beautiful Food” arrived this afternoon before I had my lunch. It doesn’t appear that there are recipe ingredients listed as in most cook books. The web page had the standard layout for a recipe with a list of ingredients . **Oh, I did cut up some small grape tomatoes to go with the red cabbage slaw.

[end NOTE]