Seafood Sundays

Not to be confused with Meatless Mondays, we have a little tradition of making a nice Sunday night meal together before the busy week starts.  Since fish and seafood are our favorite main dish treat, we usually roll with that.  This past Sunday we tried a new recipe courtesy of Executive Chef Kevin Kathman, of restaurant Max in Minneapolis.

I haven’t actually eaten at restaurant Max, but I did see him on Kare 11 news when I was visiting family in MN.  He prepared this dish of Seared Sea Scallops and it sounded like all the things we love.   I printed it out off the internet and waited until I found some nice looking fresh scallops.    We followed the recipe on the above link.

The dish was simple enough to prepare and really brought a lot of complex flavors.  I particularly liked the sweetness of the butternut squash over the saltiness of the scallops.  The lemon emulsion added another dimension that just made the dish sing. 

We served it with the Sobon Estate Viognier. 

This was a nice match with the acidity of the white, but the floral aromas that matched the sweetness of the squash.  I think this dish would actually pair nicely with a light red as well. 

What is your Sunday night tradition?

Nature’s Pride Bread

Hello  -  hello – hello?  (echoing)  Is anybody still there? 

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I haven’t really had any inspiring eats lately.  I mean, we still cook, and of course,  still eat, but it’s just been a lot of the same old, same old.  Pizza, grilled veggies and seafood, etc.  I do however, have a new recipe to try tomorrow evening, that looks divine, so stay tuned…

For now, I will tell you about the Nature’s Pride Bread I received as a sample from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.  I received two loaves, of the new Nature’s Pride 100% Natural Whole Grain breads; the 12 Grain, and the Whole Wheat.  I have sampled them both and I’m happy to report they are both winners.

I really enjoyed the seediness of the 12 Grain bread.  It had a lot of chew, and a nice, naturally sweet taste.  The texture was hearty enough for my “everything turkey sandwich” without being to heavy and filling.

The Whole Wheat variety was also delicious and slightly sweet tasting, but I missed the seeds and extra chew of the 12 Grain.  I have to say, it was the perfect vehicle for my homemade pecan butter!

 

Homemade pecan butter and agave nectar…mmmmmm!

I never realized how easy it is to make your own nut butters.  Since I’m not a fan of peanut butter (yes, I know I’m weird like that,) I found that I do like almond butter and I really like pecan butter.

HOMEMADE NUT BUTTER:

Take your nut of choice, and put about 1/2 – 1 lb in the food processor and process until smooth.  It took about 5 minutes or so for mine. 

And finally a fun photo of Chase.  Whenever we have finished a carton of yogurt, Chase gets to lick the bits that are left stuck to the edges.  Don’t ask why, it’s just the way we roll around our house.  Here he is trying to get every last lick.

What is your favorite nut butter?