[TND] 12.08 Seafood feast

I missed one or two in here, teaching a class from 5 to 6:30pm on Tuesdays has made it difficult to do the dinners every week. I did make turkey noodle soup from the turkey stock from thanksgiving, but I'm not sure that was on Tuesday.

Kuba came down for the weekend, and brought with him a bunch of scallops and some white fish (flounder, possibly some haddock) that he had taken out of the water on his last cruise on the NOAA fisheries research boat. The fish and scallops went directly into the deep freezer, so were about as fresh as it gets without cooking it on the boat. I also had stopped by a Polish bakery nearby, and gotten some fresh kielbasa. So instead of using bacon to wrap the scallops, I sliced the kielbasa thinly, and put the scallops on top of it. I also made a tarragon polenta crust for the top, which I also used on some of the white fish. I wasn't sure how many people I would have, so I got some shrimp on sale and made a quick scampi as well. The scallops were definitely the highlight, sweet, tender and delicious. The kielbasa worked beautifully, since it was subtler than bacon would have been, but still had a nice smoke and spice to it. A lot of it was the quality of both scallop and kielbasa, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it with lesser versions.

I also took the opportunity to overcome a hesitation I had in making risotto. Last time I made it, I used a wok, since it was the only appropriately sized pan I had. This is suboptimal, as you don't get even heating, and thus don't get even texture. This time I used my Caphalon 12" everything pan, which lives up to its name admirably, and it was a different experience. Much better integration, nice texture, much easier than last time. Parmesan and parsley to finish, and it was a nice backdrop to the seafood.