Friday, April 29, 2011

John Currence's Quinoa with [Spiced Seared Scallops] and Pistou



This recipe has a huge list of ingredients, but its method is as easy as it gets. The original recipe calls for tossing the shrimp in an awesome mix of spices and oil, but for some reason, I was in the mood for a scallop. So instead of marinading and baking shrimp, I decided to use this marinade as a dressing on top of a seared scallop.



The recipe also calls for mixing together a pesto with some quinoa, which I thought was just brilliant. This kind of opened up my world with quinoa. I love whipping up some pesto, and I love seeing quinoa transform into a fluffy cloud. I don't know why this preparation isn't used more often, and I wish I had thought of this earlier. Really simple, really delicious, and it gives the quinoa a beautiful green color.


The end result was great. I had never seared a scallop before, but with the help of my friend, Hana, and Alton Brown's method, the abnormally humungous scallop became beautifully browned. The taste of the pesto was subtle, and could have probably used a tad bit more salt, but it complemented the light nuttiness of quinoa really well. The smell of pesto also filled my nose with each bite. The lack of salt in the pesto balanced out the relatively intense dressing. I think I was a little bit over-enthusiastic with the dressing. Next time I'll make do with a smaller dab. A well-proportioned bite of this, though, hit the spot.

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