Scallops Marinara

I just love this time of year, warm enough to get your hands dirty and cool enough to not work up a sweat. I've been busy working in the garden all this week clearing,transplanting, adding amendments and planting. So far my peas have sprouted, the lettuce is up and the spinach is just beginning to pop through the soil. Big meals have been sparce spending so much time outdoors, but big appetites at the end of the day abound.

We try to eat seafood twice a week in our house, be it fresh fish or shelled and one of my favorites are sea scallops. In all honesty, they are so easy to prepare, I'd hardly call it a recipe, but still affordable. So when our good vegan friends Robin and Marcie came for dinner this weekend, I served these seared rapidly with a mushroom brushetta along with antipasto. With a few nice bottles of wine and great conversation we feasted and shared many laughs over a 'throw together meal' as Robin so aptly put it.



Scallops Marinara

2 lb sea scallops
3-4 tbs olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
Marinara sauce

Heat olive oil in a large pan, and saute garlic 2-3 minutes over medium-high heat. Add all herbs and spices and saute another minute before adding the scallops. Cook the scallops just until they turn opaque, then add the marinara sauce and bring to a simmer, reducing the heat to low for just a few minutes. This is so good served over polenta, angel hair or linguine..but we decided to keep this meal really simple and along with the sides--it was more than enough to fill us up. Enjoy!

Marinara sauce

3 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
5 fresh basil leaves
1/4 tsp oregano
1 16 oz can San Marzano plum tomatoes, crushed
sea salt & ground pepper
pinch of sugar

Saute the garlic in olive oil. Add crushed tomatoes, basil oregano, sugar,sea salt and pepper. Over medium heat-- simmer just 30 minutes.

Ratatouille Crepes

With the holidays just around the corner and so many delicious and tempting foods to try, we seem to just throw calories to the wind this time of year. At least in our house we do. This is one of my favorite recipes. Almost no fat, a delicious explosion of flavors, and light, but unique enough to serve to company. And then you can serve them all those rich temptations for dessert:)

In the morning, before I head to work, I make the crepe batter and chop the ingredients for the Ratatouille and cook. Then I make my marinara sauce. While the sauce cooks, make the crepes. With a little multi-tasking, it's not too time consuming...and well worth the effort.

Ratatouille Crepes
adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light

1 large eggplant chopped
2 medium zucchini chopped
4 roma plum tomatoes chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
3 shallots chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp olive oil
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 TBS chopped fresh basil
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 450

To prepare filling:

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground pepper
Toss it around to coat

Spread vegetable mixture in an even layer on cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sea salt, and just a drizzle of olive oil.

Bake at 450 for 35 minutes stirring half way through.

Transfer vegetable mixture to bowl to cool. Stir in basil & parsley.

Mix in 3 TBS Marinara Sauce



Crepes:

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh basil, minced
1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced

In a food processor, blend ingredients for 10 seconds. . Cover and refrigerate the batter in the refrigerator for one hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep up to 48 hours refrigerated.

Heat a crepe pan or small non-stick pan, lightly coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Gently whisk the batter. Lift the pan from the heat and pour in 1/8 cup of batter, tilting and rotating the pan to coat the bottom surface. Cook for 30-40 seconds and lightly browned on edges. Loosen the edges with a spatula and flip the crepe over, then cook the other side another 15 seconds. Turn the crepe onto a tea towel and cover with parchment paper, until cool and ready to fill. Repeat with remaining batter, laying them all out so they can cool. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator or freeze them for up to two months. If freezing, I like to place a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper between each crepe until I'm ready to thaw them out. Once thawed, gently peel apart.

To Assemble:

Spoon 3 TBS of Ratatouille in center of each crepe. Fold sides over to overlap. Place seam side down in a baking dish. Top with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese if desired. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Serve with farro and edamame, garden salad and some leftover meatballs. Enjoy!

Pepper & Basil Pizza Margarita

Make your own pizza dough with a simple marinara sauce, mozzarella, garden fresh peppers and fresh basil leaves. I finally harvested the remaining 40 peppers growing in my hoop house. So we decided to make some grilled fennel sausage with peppers and onions and a basil dough pizza.



Pizza Dough:

2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tsp minced fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon salt

Marinara Sauce:

Toppings:

mozzarella cheese
grated pecorino cheese
sliced green peppers
fresh basil leaves
olive oil
sea salt and white pepper


Add 1 tablespoon of yeast to warm water and sugar, stir. Let sit for 7 minutes until it just begins to bubble. Pour into mixing bowl, add olive oil and basil leaves. Blending on medium speed, mix in one cup of flour at a time with salt until it forms into a ball. Dust a cutting board with flour and knead dough for 8 minutes. Lightly coat a large bowl with olive oil, transfer dough and cover with Saran wrap and a small towel on top. Let rise in a warm area for 1 1/2 hours.

When dough becomes 2-3 times it's original size, spread onto floured board knead a little and cut into 2 pieces. Form into round disks. Whenever I make pizza dough, I toss one of the rounds into the freezer for a quickie dinner another time. Roll out the dough to 10 inches and place on pizza sheet pan. Drizzle over a bit of olive oil, then add marinara sauce, sliced peppers, fresh whole basil leaves, pecorino cheese, and top with mozzarella cheese. Shake your favorite herb blend -- I use oregano, thyme, savory & basil , a bit of sea salt & white pepper and bake in a 450 degree oven till the top is crispy and the mozzarella cheese is bubbly. Slice and just dig in. Enjoy!

First 'Class' Stuffed Manicotti

Believe it or not, I've never had the opportunity to make my own homemade manicotti.. until last night. Oh, I've made manicotti many times.. but using store bought manicotti shells.. and I have to say, that will never happen again!! :o)

I was lucky enough to have come across Maryann from Finding La Dolce Vita's excellent step-by-step tutoral on how to make your own manicotti crepes. Following her wonderful tutoral you too will be able to prepare your own homemade manicotti right in your own kitchens!

I made a spinach ricotta filling for mine and my very simple marinara sauce. Maryann's crepe recipe yields 5 crepes, so I ended up making a second batch of crepe batter.. because I now could! LOL My first crepe turned out misshapen.. so once it had cooled I just dusted it with powdered sugar and had it with my tea. But the rest turned out super!


Homemade Stuffed Manicotti with Marinara sauce

First you need to begin with a nice Marinara Sauce

1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, smashed & chopped
2 - 32 oz cans whole plum Italian tomatoes - crush them up with your hands
1 small can of crushed Italian tomatoes
1 TBLS each- fresh parsley & fresh basil
white pepper and a bit of ground sea salt
2 oz Pinot Grigio white wine
1 tsp sugar

Saute your garlic in olive oil until lightly browned, add your herbs next.. sauteeing for only a minute or two. Add your hand crushed whole plum tomatoes, crushed tomatoes and wine next and stir pot well once.. bring it all to a gently boil, and then reduce heat to the lowest simmer. Continue simmering for an hour or so, until your sauce has thicken up and reduced. Try not to stir often.. you will want this sauce to be thick and chunky.

While your sauce is cooking.. make your ricotta filling.

30 oz Ricotta (whole milk) cheese
6 oz mozzarella cheese
2 oz asiago shredded cheese
handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh spinach leaves, torn

Now.. you are ready to make your crepes!!

But I'll let you pop on over to Maryann's blog to really get a birdseye view of how these delicious manicotti crepes are made first hand. :)

We really enjoyed the lightness of this manicotti and ease of preparation. Thanks for sharing your recipe Maryann!


Making my first homemade Manicotti Crepes
Marinara cooking..


Ricotta cheese mixture


My first crepe!

The crepes are done

Filling manicotti

Manicotti stuffed

And now all ready to pop into the oven

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v241/YankeeSoaper/Making%20Manicotti%20Marinara/?action=view¤t=6fbfebd7.pbw

Marinara Sauce

Cucina Panzano's House Marinara Sauce



1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, smashed & chopped
2 - 32 oz cans whole plum Italian tomatoes - crush them up with your hands
1 small can of crushed Italian tomatoes
1 TBLS each- fresh parsley & fresh basil
white pepper and a bit of ground sea salt
2 oz Pinot Grigio white wine
1 tsp sugar

Saute your garlic in olive oil until lightly browned, add your herbs next.. sauteeing for only a minute or two. Add your hand crushed whole plum tomatoes, crushed tomatoes and wine next and stir pot well once.. bring it all to a gently boil, and then reduce heat to the lowest simmer. Continue simmering for an hour or so, until your sauce has thicken up and reduced. Try not to stir often.. you will want this sauce to be thick and chunky.