Bay Scallop Gratin – Best Appetizer Ever!

Tony and I had the best early Valentine’s dinner.  We’ve only dined out on V-day once and vowed never to do it again.  I found a cool restaurant, but what they failed to mention was that their Valentine dinner was pre fix, no substitutions and . . . $100 per person, without drink!

We almost walked out right then and there but we stayed.  It was a small dining room, and while the food was delicious – it was small food because there were so many courses.  After drink and tip I think we spent $275 on dinner and left still hungry!  (Pretty sure my brother Charlie just had a hard attack reading that – he doesn’t like to spend money dining out, even if someone else is paying!)

We never could have gotten our dinner at a restaurant for $33!  And its been ages since I’ve had bay scallops – they were so perfect – slightly sweet.

Our Menu

Bay Scallop Gratin

Sourdough Bread

Prime Filet Mignon with Rosemary Butter

Asparagus with balsamic vinegar and shaved Parmesan

Bay Scallop Gratin (printer friendly version here)

Adapted from Ina Garten

2 servings: 455 calories, 27 fat, 25 carbs, 1.6 fiber, 23 protein

12 PointsPlus

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Zest of half a lemon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cracked pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup panko bread crumbs
• 3 tablespoons white wine
• ½ pound bay scallops

Directions:

1.     Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2.     Make the topping my mixing the butter, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, zest, salt, pepper, olive oil and panko bread crumbs.  I just put all the ingredients in a bowl and whipped with a fork.

3.     Put wine in bottom of baking dish.  Layer the scallops on an even layer.  Top with bread crumb mixture and bake for 10 minutes.  Turn broiler on and broil until the top is bubbly and browned.   Serve with crusty bread.

the scallops are swimming in the wine, topped with butter and ready for the oven

my mouth is watering just looking at this picture 😀

I wish I could describe how delicious this was – I think the lemon zest added to the topping makes this dish (and Ina didn’t have that in her original recipe – ha!).  We each took our sourdough bread and soaked up all the buttery garlic goodness.  Totally worth the 12 points!  Actually, the next time I make this, I think I’ll reduce the butter and olive oil to one tablespoon each – and then serve it with a salad for a dinner.

no special dinner would be complete without a little Asti!

I took the steaks out of the refrigerator 45 minutes before cooking – its key to have your meat at room temperature (that’s what she said!) otherwise if you have a cold steak to a hot skillet – you’ll get a tough steak.

Tony spent about 2 minutes searing the sides of the steak

Then into a 425 degree oven for exactly 10 minutes – flipping after the first five minutes.

once the steaks come out, then top with rosemary butter (2 tablespoons of butter mixed with 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary) tent with foil and let rest for 10 minutes

Can I just tell you that the rosemary butter made this dish?  I had a mushroom gravy on the side, but the butter mixed with the pan juices was all that was needed.

My plate – I ate only about 1/3 of the steak – it was so much meat! (that’s what she said!)  My whole dinner came in at 29 points – nice!  So I ended up with 47 points for the day, but I still have 31 flex points left for the week.

When we first cut into the steak and took our first bite, we both closed our eyes to savor the deliciousness – and best part with all the leftover filet?  I had 2 ounces diced into my scrambled eggs – so good.

perfect rare 😀

So we are headed to the hospital this morning to check Tony in before his surgery tomorrow.  We had to go to the hospital yesterday to get his blood checked – he has an artificial heart valve, so he stopped taking his blood thinners Friday night – but its a delicate balance – you don’t want the blood too thin for surgery otherwise he bleeds a lot, and you don’t want it too thick because he may get a blood clot.

We were told to go to the Main Entrance since it was a Sunday and go to the lab.  The woman said “no you have to go to the ER to get registered first.”  We say we were told by several people that they knew he was coming and to go to the lab.  So we go to the lab, and they also say to go to the ER.  Mind you, the Main Entrance and the ER are on opposite sides of the hospital.

The woman walked us to the ER, we start registering, and she said “do you know your way back?”  We did, so she left.  Only one problem, to go back the way we came, you need a hospital ID and no one would let us back that way.  So we had to go outside, walk down two flights of stairs, across the parking lot back to the main entrance!  When we saw the woman who helped us and she apologized for us having to walk outside to get back to the lab.

So we go to the lab, and they have no clue why we are there.  Apparently, all we had to do was go to the ER, register, they would call the lab, the lab would come to us, take the blood sample and we were good to go.  Luckily, they took his blood at the lab and didn’t make us walk back to the ER!

On the BSI front – check out all the vanilla entries here – thanks for hosting last week Wendy!

This week’s BSI hostess is Sara of Cupcake Muffin – she chose green beans!