Sunday, July 26, 2009

Capellini with Pan Seared Scallops and Back Bacon


HY was out having dinner with friends this Friday night. Just back from office and lazy to get food in the nearby hawker centre. So I decided to ransack my fridge to see what's there for cooking a dinner good enough for a lonely husband. I cooked a portion enough for two, ate one portion and kept one portion in the fridge. The capellini that I heat up in the microwave the next morning still taste pretty good. Glad HY's not keen on heavy breakfast ..... Slurp!



Ingredients (for 2 servings):

2 servings of capellini or angel's hair
4~5 slices of back's bacon chopped up into small pieces (my last few slices that's gonna go overdue)
4 pieces of scallops (frozen US scallops, I'm sure you'll do better with the fresh ones)
1 sprig of rosemary
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of parsley
6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion chopped up finely
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter

Method :

Making the herb with olive oil
1) Chop the rosemary, thyme and parsley leaves into fine bits. Scoop up about 1 teaspoon and place into a soup bowl.
2) Add 4 tablespoons of extra virgin oil and mix them up. Leave them aside.

Stir frying the onion and bacon
1) Heat up 1 tablespoon of oilive oil and stir fry the chopped onions. When the onions are softened, leave them aside in a plate.
2) Place the bacon in the pan and stir fry with medium heat until some fats melt off the bacon and the edges slightly brown. Add the onions back into the an to stir fry. Leave them aside.

Pan Searing the Scallops
Melt butter in the pan and place the scallop on one side. Cover the pan with a top. Flip the scallop over when one surface is slight browned. Repeat on the oppsite face of the scallop. Leave the scallops aside to drain off excess butter when they are done.

Preparing Capellini
1) Boil about 500ml of water. Cook the capellini with the boiling water for 2~3 minutes until it soften and able to swirl freely in the water. Do not overcook.
2) Strain away the water and rinse the capellini under the tap for a while. Toss the capellini in the strainer to drain as much water out as possible.
3) Whisk the olive oil and herb mixture to "wake" it up. Place the capellini into the the bowl and mix gently.
4) The onion and bacon into the bowl and mix them up.

Plating
Split the capellini into 2 plates and the top them with 2 scallops each. Sprinkle a little parsley flakes over the scallops.

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