Being Cheap and Shellfish

When I see sales on fish and shellfish, I tend to adhere to the mentality: “Buy it! Buy it now! It’ll make a fancy meal!” I don’t know why I’d assume any type of fish is “fancy” per se (see: fried catfish or anything from the Gorton’s Fisherman… and I don't care what you say, I don’t trust him!) but I know anytime I’ve had fish while eating in a restaurant, I’ve just considered it fancier than a cheeseburger or a basic pasta dish.

So I purchased some Sea Scallops from my favorite fish market (insert “your mom” jokes here) for about $6.75 a pound. Since I’m used to paying $10-$15 per pound at Wegmans, I thought I’d buy some and make a “fancy” dinner.

I had decided to make my typical Pan-Seared Scallops Over Fresh Spinach. Usually when scallops are pan-seared they end up tasting like pieces of caramelized goodness. These particular lil suckers for some reason reduced in size in the pan and wouldn’t get a consistent sear on them. I can only assume they may have been “wet” scallops instead of the typical “dry” scallops (see Alton Brown’s detailed explanation on the “Shell Game IV” episode of Good Eats on the difference between the 2: basically “wet” refers to additive to extend shelf life)

Though the scallops shrunk and didn’t sear properly and the spinach was full-leaf instead of baby spinach, it still came out tasty, but not overly scrupmtious. Adding a touch of olive oil, sea salt, pepper, fresh parmesan and balsamic vinegar to the spinach prior to topping it with the scallops added extra flavor. Hows that for fancy?

Accompanying the entrée was roasted garlic risotto. I’ve gotten pretty good at making this side dish but a recent recipe I saw called for adding cream. Though its creamy enough on its own (again, insert “your mom” jokes here), I added a little half and half at the end and took out the white wine I normally add to the stock. So far, it was the best one yet.

So the only things I’d change in the future is: go back to using baby spinach as it has a less harsh flavor and make sure to buy the specifically-marked “dry” sea scallops. Or maybe I’ll just stop being so cheap and buy my scallops from Wegmans from now on. OR maybe I'll stop considering fish to be "fancy".