Monday, March 20, 2006
Open Ravioli with Smoked Salmon and Creamy Pesto
I had a bad day on Saturday... Or did I? No, really, it was a brilliant day... Or was it? Well, in fact, it was both horrible and wonderful. I suppose Lofty is r
ight when he says that I'm too easily influenced by external factors. My mood does tend to change like the weather, from bright sunny smiles to furious thunderstorms. And Saturday was a good case in point. The morning really sucked. I got kicked out of the poker tourney after a few hands, but decided not to use the time I gained for anything productive, such as food shopping. I am going to Germany on Wednesday and Lofty prefers not to have a full fridge to cope with all on his own. There more choice there is, the likelier it is that he will just have a sandwich. At first, I thought of going out and getting some prezzies for my friends. But then I noticed the bad weather and decided that going out would not be a good idea. Instead, I sat at home feeling miserable.My mood changed around lunchtime. I don't know if it was because the poker was going all
right or if I enjoyed the poker because I was finally lightening up, but the two definitely coincided. After the tourney - in which I incidentally came nowhere despite my good mood - I made some sandwiches and finally convinced myself that it was worth braving the rain just to check out Meath Street. And boy was I right! Our fishmonger had beautiful scallops in their shells at a price I shouldn't talk about lest you all go down there and snap up my bargains. But I'll give you a clue: I bought 10 each for Lofty and me and did not bankrupt myself. I got a few other bits and pieces, but nothing really worth mentioning. As I said, I'm going to Germany on Wednesday, so there is no point in filling up the fridge.I was going to go down to the market as well, but after having survived my wrestle against housewives out to buy 2 packs of sausages for €1 (guess how much meat's in them...) and mad grannies with shopping trolleys the size of the fish shop, I was overcome by a sudden outburst of laziness and headed home instead. But the damage had been done, I had been inspired to dive head first into food. I spent an hour just cleaning and photographing the scallops and actually had a smile on my face the whole time. I was glad to scrub the algae off the shells to reveal the hundreds of shades of pink underneath. I was happy to run my fingers through the wobbly membrane to unpack the sweet, cream coloured morsels underneath. And I was laughing every time I came across a handful of mud and sand. In short, I was well and truly happy.
The next few hours were occupied by an extensive Internet and recipe search. Where do scallops come from? How should they be treated? Who eats them? What can you cook with them? And, obviously, what should I do with them? I found out that scallops are related to oysters, come in a variety of sizes and colours, and are harvested and eaten all over the world. I also found out that they should never be stored in water, because they absorb it and lose flavour that way. They should be washed briefly, dried quickly and stored under a damp cloth to prevent drying out. It took me a little longer to decide on a recipe, but I eventually settled on something simple, yet flavoursome: Scallops in garlic butter on a bed of steamed spinach.
So why is this post titled salmon ravioli? I was afraid that 10 scallops and a handful of spinach may not suffice as a dinner and searched the fridge for something to turn into a starter. I came across an opened pack of smoked salmon, a bit of cream and a lot of vegetables. This is how the ravioli idea was born. And this is how it was put to reality:
1 tbsp olive oilIn my humble opinion (and, much to my delight, in Lofty's as well) this starter was so nice, it seemed to be worthy of its own post. So you will have to wait for the scallop musings and the accompanying recipe until the next post.
¼ onion, finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
100 ml single cream
1 tbsp fresh basil pesto
½ tbsp butter
2 small handfuls of fresh spinach
2 slices of smoked salmon
1 lasagne sheet, cut in half (obviously fresh pasta is nicer here, but dried will work just as well)
½ tomato, de-seeded and finely diced
freshly ground Parmesan and a few basil leaves to serve
First, heat the oil in a shallow frying pan over medium low heat. Fry the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and carrot and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the cream and continue to cook until thickened. Stir in the pesto and set aside.
Blanch the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the spinach until tender.
Place one of the halved sheets of pasta in the centre of a plate. Put a pile of spinach on top followed by the rolled up salmon.
Drizzle the sauce around the edge together with the tomatoes. Grate some Parmesan over the dish and top with the basil leaves.
Christine at 8:50 pm
