5 “secret” ingredients = 1 delicious dinner

For Brian and I cooking is as much entertainment as it is about preparing food. Food should be fun as well as nutritious and yummy. Sometimes the experiments work and sometimes they don’t. Trust me I’m never preparing tamales again. Talk about a greasy inedible mess.

We’ve borrowed an idea from a TV Cooking show and adapted it. Each weekend one of us will provide the other with 5 “secret” ingredients. Those ingredients must be used in the entree. Other ingredients that we have on hand can be used to supplement the “secret” ingredients.

So for Brian I selected:

Scallops
Corn meal
Red Cabbage
Yellow Pepper
Grapefruit

Ingredients added by amateur chef Brian:

Ancho chili powder (1/4 tsp)
Cumin (1/4 tsp)
Pepper (1/4 tsp)
Apple cider vinegar (or red wine) ½ cup
Brown sugar (2 tbsp)
Peaches (4)
Tomatillo (2)
Olive oil 1 cup
Fresh herbs: Thyme, basil, parsley, cilantro
Jicama
Ginger (1/2 tbsp)
Butter

His menu Southwestern scallops served on a bed of sweet and sour red cabbage, grapefruit salsa and herbed dipping sauce.

Here are the recipes

Southwestern scallops

Combine 1 cup corn meal, ancho powder, cumin and pepper in wide bowl or plate.Dredge scallops and shrimp until thoroughly coated, then sauté.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

Dice cabbage. Melt butter in pan, add cabbage. Cook for 5 minutes.
Mix: peach juice, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar or red wine, grapefruit juice. Add to cabbage, cook until tender.

Herb and Pepper Dipping Sauce

Dice yellow pepper, fresh herbs and tomatillo. Add to blender with
Olive oil and emulsify.
Serve as dipping sauce for scallops

Cool Grapefruit and Peach Salsa

Section grapefruit into bite sized pieces. Finely chop jicama and tomatillo. Cut peaches into bite sized pieces. Dice sprig of cilantro
Combine ingredients in bowl. Serve chilled.