Roasted Bell Pepper Soup with Seared Scallops

Yes, I know what you are thinking. You took one look at the name of this post and thought, “Good lord this chick makes some weird stuff.”

Am I right or am I right?

And I do make a ton of weird stuff. You should see the recipes that I DON’T post. But I promise you that I post only the stuff I would eat again. Just consider me your personal taste tester of all the weird food combos out there.

Despite the fact that this combo might sound odd, I promise it works. Not only does it work, it is damn tasty.

You will need…

3 large red bell peppers

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 garlic cloves, mined

1 medium onion, diced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 quart chicken broth

¼ cup fresh orange juice, plus zest of 1 orange

2 tablespoons cilantro, roughly chopped

8 to 10 sea scallops (depending on the size and how much you want)

Salt and pepper to taste        

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Put the peppers on a baking sheet and roast until the skins are blackened. About 45 minutes.

When the skin has blackened, place the peppers in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow the peppers to cool until you can handle them.

By the time the peppers have cooled, the skin and stem will easily peel off. Clean the peppers of their skin and seeds and roughly chop.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.

When the oil is hot, add in the garlic, onion, cumin and crushed red pepper flakes.

Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are softened. About 10 minutes.

Add in the roasted peppers and the chicken broth, increase the heat and bring the soup to a boil.

Once the soup boils, reduce the soup to a simmer.

Add in the orange juice, zest, cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes.

When the onions and peppers are very tender, blend in batches in your food processor or with an immersion blender.

Set aside.

In a medium skillet, heat the remaining oil and butter over medium high heat.

When the butter has melted and the oil is hot, season the scallops well with salt and pepper and add to the pan.

Cook until the scallops are well browned on both sides and cooked through. About 2 minutes a side.

Place the scallops in a shallow bowl.

Pour the soup over the scallops and serve hot with some crusty bread.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela  

Roasted Bell Pepper Soup with Seared Scallops

4 large red bell peppers

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 garlic cloves, mined

1 medium onion, diced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 quart chicken broth

¼ cup fresh orange juice, plus zest of 1 orange

2 tablespoons cilantro, roughly chopped

8 to 10 sea scallops (depending on the size and how much you want)

Salt and pepper to taste        

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Put the peppers on a baking sheet and roast until the skins are blackened. About 45 minutes.

When the skin has blackened, place the peppers in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow the peppers to cool until you can handle them.

By the time the peppers have cooled, the skin and stem will easily peel off. Clean the peppers of their skin and seeds and roughly chop.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.

When the oil is hot, add in the garlic, onion, cumin and crushed red pepper flakes.

Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are softened. About 10 minutes.

Add in the roasted peppers and the chicken broth, increase the heat and bring the soup to a boil.

Once the soup boils, reduce the soup to a simmer.

Add in the orange juice, zest, cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes.

When the onions and peppers are very tender, blend in batches in your food processor or with an immersion blender.

Set aside.

In a medium skillet, heat the remaining oil and butter over medium high heat.

When the butter has melted and the oil is hot, season the scallops well with salt and pepper and add to the pan.

Cook until the scallops are well browned on both sides and cooked through. About 2 minutes a side.

Place the scallops in a shallow bowl.

Pour the soup over the scallops and serve hot with some crusty bread. 

Panzanella Salad

When I started getting more serious about cooking, food and the blog, I decided that I had to make a conscious effort to not be restricted by foods I didn’t like.

I started forcing myself to eat thing that I had previously rejected.

For the most part it worked out. Suddenly I will eat oysters, curry and I will actually try something that is “spicy.”

When I made this dish, I found myself put off by an ingredient for the first time in a long time.

It wasn’t even something that I had really had before. But every cartoon/movie I watched as a child told me to stay far, FAR away.

Anchovies.

Even though there was an insanely small amount in this salad, it really freaked me out.

They looked fine and smelled fine, but every time I just THOUGHT about the word anchovy, I got the willies.

Of course I forced myself to eat them. And they tasted great. As long as I didn’t THINK about it.

Mind over matter people. Mind over matter.

I hope you are a little more open minded than I was, but if not, this salad will be just as delicious if you decided to go sans anchovies.

You will need…

1 cup chopped romaine

2 anchovies, filet

1/8 cup roasted red tomatoes

1/8 cup roasted yellow peppers

½ lemon, juice and zest

1/4 pound ciabatta bread

4 fresh basil, leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 cup parmesan reggiano

Salt and pepper to taste

For the oregano vinaigrette...

4 garlic cloves

1/4 cup champagne vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh oregano

3 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup Dijon mustard

Start by heating your grill to a medium heat (350F will work). Brush the ciabatta bread with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Place on the grill and cook for about a minute on a side. Be sure to get some goo grill mark on the bread to add flavor to the salad.

Once bread has been grilled, cut into 1 inch pieces.

To make the dressing, combine the garlic, vinegar, fresh and dried oregano, parsley, honey, salt and Dijon mustard in a food processor or blender.

Blend until the mixture is smooth. Add in the olive oil a bit at a time until completely blended.

In a medium bowl add the chopped romaine, anchovies, roasted red tomatoes, roasted yellow peppers, fresh lemon (juice and zest), fresh basil, ciabatta grilled crotons and salt and pepper to taste with.

Dress the salad with ¼ up of the dressing (the recipe makes a lot more for future uses).

Top it off with the parmesan, toss and serve.

What foods freak you out?

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Grilled Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Salsa

I hope you all had a safe and lovely holiday weekend! Mine was lovely, but in no way was it safe.

Basically, I shouldn’t be allowed on a bike. Or near a bike. Or around anything that could harm me at all.

I should be in a bubble.

In one weekend I managed to fall off the handle bars of a bike, get stung by some unidentified insect and get body slammed by a bike and its rider.

On one of the major bikini weekends of the year, I was walking around the beaches of Newport with road rash, bruises and a swollen sting.

I like attention and all, but the ruckus my wounds caused was a little over the top.

Halfway through the weekend I decided to tell everyone a different story about what happened to me.

I got into a wrestling match on the concrete with Lindsey B.

I was surfing a gnarly wave and hit some coral.

And my personal favorite, I am a zoo keeper and I got a little too close to a lion. Which I actually got some drunken fool to believe.

Ah the glories of alcohol.

So now with my buzz worn off, I sit here nursing my wounds and dreaming about the day when wearing clothes won’t be painful. The second moving doesn’t cause me to cringe I’m getting back in the kitchen to make this dish again.

Lish sent me a picture of this chicken that she made for her and her now husband out of a cook book they were given for their wedding. It looked so good I made her send me the recipe right that second so I could make it for dinner. And, it was even BETTER then it looked. (This recipe is for two but you could easily double or triple it for more people.)

You will need…

2 large chicken breasts pounded thin

¾ cup coarsely chopped roasted red bell peppers

¼ cup golden rains

1 avocado, coarsely chopped

1 mango, coarsely chopped

¼ cup red onion, diced

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon orange zest

Juice of 1 orange

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by heating your grill to a medium heat. Mine was at 350 degrees F.

While the grill is heating, combine the peppers, avocado, raisins, mango, onion, cilantro, zest and juice into a medium bowl.

In a small pan, heat the olive oil and the cumin, cinnamon and cayenne pepper over medium heat.

When the oil is nice and hot, add the red pepper salsa mixture to the pan and stir until the mixture is hot.

Remove it from the heat, place it in a serving bowl and cover.

When the grill is hot, season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook for 4 minutes on each side or until it is cooked through.

Make sure that you either lightly coat the chicken with oil or spray the grill with a grill cooking spray before grilling. You don’t want your chicken to stick to the grill.

After the chicken is cooked, serve hot with the large spoonfuls of the warm salsa.

Now just try and stop yourself from devouring this.

And don’t blame me when you want to make it again. And again. And again.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela