Brain-Dead Dinner Night…

It happens now and again… I just have no idea what I want – or want to make – for dinner…

Open freezer.

There’s all the usual suspects – chicken, ground beef, a steak, a small pork loin, langostinos, lots of frozen vegetables… and scallops.

The rusty wheels started turning… there was bacon in the ‘fridge, red onions, frozen peas… A meal was born.

A main contributor to the recipe concept was the Garlic Parmesan Butter/Scampi Sauce from our friend, Tony at Zantonio.com. As you probably know if you read this thing, we’ve been helping Tony develop a mail order system for the butter, as well as coming up with easy recipes for its use.

One thing I learned from my Demo Years at Trader Joe’s, if you want to make a product a pantry staple, you need to let people know how many ways they can use a product besides the obvious. It’s how things like Pumpkin Dressing or Sweet Chili Soup came into existence. (There are still several hundred recipes we created on the site under Quick Meals In Minutes.)

Tony’s product is so awesome it deserves pantry staple status.

But I digress…

I came up with a dinner made in the time it takes to cook the rice. Old habits die hard… And do I miss those thrilling days of yesteryear?!? Nope. I was born to be retired…

Scallops with Bacon and Peas

  • 1 lb scallops, cleaned
  • 4 slices thick-cut bacon cut into strips
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 1 cup peas, thawed and blanched
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • pinch thyme
  • pinch oregano
  • 3 tbsp Zantonio Parmesan Garlic Butter/Scampi Sauce

Clean scallops and pat dry.

In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove from pan. Add chopped onions and quickly saute . Add peas and quickly warm. Remove peas and onions to bowl with bacon.

Wipe out pan. Reheat and add scallops. Sear on one side about two minutes, flip, and cook another 2 minutes.

Add the Zantonio Parmesan Garlic Butter/Scampi Sauce, swirling the pan and covering the scallops.

Add the wine, and the bacon, onions, and peas.

Heat everything through.

Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.

Serve with rice or your favorite pasta.

 

 

A simple meal and clean-up was a breeze! (Not that I know first-hand… Victor does the dishes!)