Archives for November 2011

Today was one of those days that could not have ended fast enough. It really was TGIF. Everything that was going wrong was happening. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed because middle of the night construction down the road woke us up so I had no patience from the start. So from there things spiraled out of control. I could not wait to get home, hop in our fixed car ($500 later) and go to the grocery store. Such an exciting Friday night, no?

I was so excited to get to the grocery store to get everything I needed to make scallop salad. Why scallop salad? Well, during the summer I attended a Freixenet tasting giving me the opportunity to try many great cocktails using the Freixnet Cava. Recently, I was contacted by their PR group wondering if I would like to host “Freixenet Friday” so I could share Feixenet love with you guys. During these weekly Friday posts, I will be posting recipes from the Freixnet site. I decided to start with some food since we never should start to drink on an empty stomach.

I adapted the scallop salad recipe on the Freixenet website to that I had a slight change in getting Price to eat it. Price is not a huge seafood fan so I figured the tender, smaller bay scallops would be an easier sell than the bigger ones. I was slightly right, at least he tried it. Progress… Additionally, the bay scallops are less expensive than the large sea scallops. This was an easy starter salad to whip up so it could easily be increased and made for a dinner party. You would really impress you guests if you brought this salad out with the paired Brut Reserva.

Scallop Salad 

*Serves 2*

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb of bay scallops
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 orange
• 1 lime
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• lettuce for two people,
• 1-2 green onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons cream
• white pepper
• salt

Process

1. Zest half an orange, set aside zest. Supreme the orange by peeling it and removing the white pith. Then use a sharp knife to remove the skin from each slice of orange. Dice the segments, set aside.
2.  Chiffonade the lettuce.
3. In a saucepan over high heat, add the butter, tomatoes, and lime juice, cooking for 2 minutes. Add the orange zest and scallops, cook until they become white, about a 1 1/2 – 2 minutes.
4. Using a slotted spoon, remove the tomatoes and scallops from the pan into a small bowl. Add the sliced green onion and orange segment pieces.
5.  Add the cream and white pepper to the sauce in the pan to thicken. Turn off the heat once the sauce is thicker, add the tomatoes and scallop mixture back to the pan. Toss to coat and then serve.
6. To serve the salad, layer 1/2 the lettuce in a martini glass. Divide the salad between the glasses. Sprinkle with salt.

WINE PAIRING: BRUT RESERVA 2007

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And now the good stuff… the GIVEAWAY!

The “Freixenet Friday” package includes six elegant Freixenet fluted glasses as well as The Freixenet Social Survival Guide, a pocket reference guide for social situations. This savvy little red book is filled with common sense advice including: Ten Commandments the perfect guest or host should live by, the sophisticate’s guide to tipping, ordering wine with confidence, quick fix-its on the fly: stains, fallen hems and broken heels, from work to play: 18 hours of style for those working from “nine to wine”.

To Enter:

Leave a comment telling me what you are looking forward to about holiday parties.

Extra Entries: 

Spread the word- Tweet: “I want to win a @freixenetusa Friday Package that includes fluted glasses from @iamahoneybee http://wp.me/pzEAP-1C” OR share on Facebook. Come back here and leave me a comment telling me what you did.

Follow Freixenet- you can follow the Freixenet truck as it hops around the country @FreixentUSA OR like them on Facebook. Come back here and leave me a comment telling me what you did.

Contest Ends Monday night at Midnight EST. Good luck!