Adventures in Cooking

Well, I cooked dinner last night and aside from a minor burnt pan at the end, it went pretty smoothly! The menu consisted of:

Seared scallops

Wilted spinach with toasted garlic

Roasted red pepper pesto over pasta

Here's how the cooking went! First I started by opening some wine because I prefer the French way of cooking where you should drink wine while doing so. This particular type is one of my favorite reds. It's about $12-15 a bottle and worth every bit. I had had a hard day at work so I decided that this wine was a better choice than a cheaper bottle. 

Next, I cut up the red peppers to roast. I always do this instead of buying roasted red peppers in a jar because it is almost just as easy if you have the time to do it yourself. First, I broil the peppers in the oven until the skins are charred.

Next, I put them in a ziploc bag for 25-35 mins so they can finish the roasting process and before soft. I forgot to get a picture of them when they were charred after being in the oven, but if you leave them in to get pretty charred, it makes the step after the ziploc bag easier...

Then, I peel off the charred skins and you are left with your own roasted red peppers! You can also do this with other peppers and it works the same way and really is super easy. So, then I put the peppers in the food processor with some basil, Parmesan cheese, a little garlic, salt and pepper. Then I blended that and poured in oil to make the pesto actually become pesto.

After it was all blended, I mixed the pesto with my pasta that I had made and the first dish of the dinner was complete!

Next, I cooked the scallops by pan searing them in some butter. This is where I burned the pan. As you can see. 

But no worries, the scallops were still delicious! After cooking the scallops, I threw some diced garlic into the pan to cook in a little butter and then threw fresh spinach in to let that cook until it wilted. After plating, the delicious dinner was ready to eat!

Bon Appétit!!