06-02-13-scallops

 

Many moons ago when we gave away all of our cookbooks, we didn’t really give away all of them. There were a couple dozen that made the cut – and the Frog Commissary Cookbook was definitely one of them. I never ate at The Frog or The Commissary, but I love the cookbook.  It’s written in a fun ’70s sort of way – using real ingredients – and it has great illustrations.

The restaurants were in full swing when Victor owned his restaurant – Montserrat – at 6th & South Street back in the ’80s. It was a time when all the restaurateurs knew one another, when cooks, bartenders, and waitrons jumped ship on a whim, and recipes were stolen and improved upon with aplomb.  Liquor flowed like water. I was opening hotels all over the USofA. Victor was in the heart of the Philadelphia Food Renaissance. We are so lucky we met each other after-the-fact..

So back to cookbooks… This one has been down in the basement with a score or more of other books, but it caught my eye when I was looking for The Italian Baker for a loaf of bread – that I passed over for the Bob’s Red Mill Cookbook.

It all seems to have a purpose.

Anyway… I knew I was making salads tonight with scallops, but that was as far as it went. When I opened Frog Commissary and saw “South American Scallop Salad with Lime Dressing” I knew I had dinner.

As is my modus operandi, I didn’t really follow their recipe, but I did make a variation of the lime dressing – and it totally rocked!

Lime Dressing

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 2 tsp lime zest
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, minced
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Place everything except mayonnaise into a blender and process until smooth. Add mayo and blend well. Place in bowl and chill until ready to use.

I marinated the scallops in olive oil and lots of fresh garlic and then quickly grilled them. The salads, themselves, were greens, yellow peppers, tomatoes, red onion, black olives, artichoke heats… Leftovers from Mike and Barbara’s visit. Waste not, want not, and all that sort of stuff.

And Frog Commissary did not let me down. The dressing was stellar and it went perfectly with garlicky scallops. Creamy, rich, refreshing, and with just a hint of heat.

Tomorrow I’m going to make their famous Apple Sour Cream Streussel Pie. After a mere 18 1/2 years, I found out tonight that it is one of Victor’s most-favorite desserts. He had the recipe years before the cookbook ever came out.

I think I’ll actually try and follow the recipe as written. Wish me luck.