Quick Garlic-Seafood Appetizer

This is a very quick shrimp and scallop recipe that uses reduced wine, butter, parmesan and sour cream. It makes your house smell like a five-star restaurant and it’s such a cinch to make. I have been meaning to share this recipe with you for a long time because it’s a favourite in our household.

I know it’s not often that I post two recipes in a row, but this was a quick one, and I have been on the fence about a book project that I have (almost) decided to go through with. I plan to submit my book-in-progress to compete for an agent to take it on. It might mean that the rest of the manuscript will not go on my blog, and you will have to wait for the book to come out. Or – I could totally get rejected and I’ll keep putting it on my blog as planned and then self-publish it. This baby is destined to be born one way or another.

(Don’t tell anyone, but the book is not actually finished and the deadline is Friday).

(cough, cough).

On to … Appetizers!

Mince 7 large cloves of garlic (unless you are meeting your boss for an important discussion about your raise the following day. In that case cut the garlic down to 3 cloves). Sauté it in four tablespoons of butter.

Before it starts to get too brown, pour 2 cups of white wine and turn up the flame.

Cook at high heat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring often until the sauce reduces. It looks like this – darker in colour, and less liquid.

While that is cooking (and before it gets too dark), rinse 400 grams of scallops and 300 grams of shrimp.

Then blot them dry on paper towels. They will be more tender if they can cook without liquid (although I usually don’t manage to dry-sauté them. There is always too much liquid that needs to be strained out.

When the sauce is sufficiently reduced, add 1/4 cup of sour cream and let that melt *.

Add 1/2 t salt, and remove the sauce to a bowl *.

Use the same pan (with its flavourful remnants of sauce) to melt 3 more tablespoons of butter, and place your seafood to cook on medium heat. After about 5 minutes, turn them gently over to the other side.

You will probably need to strain out any excess liquid like I did. Then sprinkle them with about 2 teaspoons of dry parsley and pour the sauce over them.

Add 100 grams of parmesan, and let that melt on low heat, stirring just a little bit.

And it’s done! Serve immediately.

* You can make this with toast for an appetiser that will serve 6-8 people. You can also add broccoli, and even more sour cream (1/2 c or more, plus another 1/2 t salt), and/or grated swiss, then serve that over rice for 2-4 people (depending on how big the appetites are). We usually make this for dinner.

Can’t go wrong with this easy dish, and if you are generally not a confident cook, just wait ’til your spouse comes home to this aroma!

Comments

I love to hear from you, friends. You can comment using the box below or your Facebook profile. But FB doesn't notify me of new comments, so if the post is more than a week old and you want to make sure I see your comment, it's better to use the comment box. Merci!