This is a special dinner. It's also incredibly simple. It is light and clean tasting, with just the right amount of heat. You'll usually find black squid ink pasta at more upscale restaurants, but I saw some at Trader Joe's and instantly bought a few packs. If you can't find squid ink pasta then you can order it online.
This type of pasta is excellent with seafood dishes, hence the jumbo scallops I decided to use. I originally wanted to use san marzano tomatoes to make a fresh red sauce but I had to use up the plum tomatoes I had laying around. It was delicious. Black mysterious looking pasta with sweet, succulent scallops with a golden brown crust. Then there's the heat from the red chili, and the acidity of the white wine and tomatoes...freakin' heck I'm sweating over here just thinking about it. My wife said this is one of her new favorites.
Trust me, you've gotta make this dish. Your next special occasion (or just make one up) just have a go at it.
Ingredients: (serves 2)
- 8 good quality jumbo sea scallops, get the freshest you can get
- 8-10 plum tomatoes
- 2 cloves chopped or sliced garlic
- Small handful of chopped thyme
- 1 small to medium red chili (or a couple dashes of red chili flakes works too)
- Half a package of black squid ink pasta
- Small bunch of chopped parsley
- 1 cup of white wine
- Sunflower oil or any neutral oil with a high smoke point
- Kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Bring a pot of water up to a boil. Add salt to water, then add in your squid ink pasta. Cook for 2 minutes less than what package says (usually 6-7 min).
- Season scallops on both sides with kosher salt. Get a pan ripping hot, then add sunflower oil. Add scallops in pan until both sides are golden in color with a good crust (about 1-2 min per side). Take scallops out of pan and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium-low. Add a good amount of olive oil to coat bottom of pan. Toss in your sliced or chopped tomatoes along with a couple to few pinches of salt. Cook out for a minute or two. Then add your red chili, garlic, thyme and cook for about 30-60 seconds being careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add in the white wine. Reduce to burn off alcohol (about 1-2 min) and intensify flavor.
- Add pasta to your pan to finish cooking it off, along with a little bit of the pasta water to bind everything together. Add in a little of the chopped parsley. Twirl pasta in pan to meld everything together. Taste to see if you need to add any more salt.
- Turn off heat, add scallops back into pan. Garnish with remaining chopped parsley. Plate it up and enjoy.
Comments
Post a Comment