Scallops - from Gulf to Table

Tara, Abe and Sara spent Friday out scalloping. They had quite an adventure (including grounding the boat on a sandbar) but came home happy and with a good catch.

Heading out Friday morning.

Scallops like the fine grasses better than the coarse grasses.

 "The catch."

Tara found this adorable little crab inside the shell while she and Abe were shucking.

 Heading back to dock

Sunday night, we had most of the gang over and I cooked up the harvest for everyone. Recipe follows photos. 

Sauteing the scallops in a little bit of butter in the cast iron skillet.

The final product = YUM!

Angel Hair Pasta with Bay Scallops, Roasted Summer Squash and Browned Butter Cream Sauce

Ingredients

7 small summer squash, chopped into bite size pieces (we used 2 zucchini and 5 yellow squash)

2 Tablespoons olive oil

salt

pepper

1 pound angel hair pasta, cooked al dente (5 minutes)

9 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced

3 Tablespoons heavy cream

3/4 cup (or more) freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1 quart fresh bay scallops

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine squash, olive oil and salt and pepper in a large bowl, stir well. Pour squash onto a baking sheet (I line it with foil for easy clean up) and roast about 25 minutes or until caramelized, stirring every 10 minutes. Hold in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Cook pasta according to package instructions while preparing the sauce.

In a large pot (I used our dutch oven), melt the 8 Tablespoons of butter with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. When the butter is melted, add the sage and cook, stirring regularly, until the butter browns and begins to smell nutty. Stir in the cream and remove from heat. At this point, you can add the cheese but we used it as a garnish. When the pasta is cooked and drained, add it to the sauce and stir well so that the sauce coats the pasta well. Pour the pasta and sauce into a large serving bowl and spread the roasted vegetables around the perimeter.

Heat a medium size cast iron skillet on high to sear the scallops. Add a half a Tablespoon of butter to skillet and when it's melted, swirl it around and add 1/2 the scallops. Sear them for about 2 minutes, then stir gently. It's important not to overcook them so as soon as they look opaque, pour the scallops and any liquid from the pan on top of the pasta (which is now in the serving bowl). Repeat with an additional 1/2 Tablespoon of butter and the second half of the scallops.

Enjoy immediately. Serve with the grated parm on the pasta and vegetables.

Sauce recipe adapted from this one from Rachael Ray.

Monday Trip to the Beach

We took Mom for a drive on the beach Monday at Cape San Blas and Indian Pass, in Gulf County, about 100 miles southwest of our house. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, around 80, with a light breeze. First we had a picnic on the beach.

Then we went for a walk. In case you can't tell, Mom walked in the water the whole way!

Next we drove over to Indian Pass and went all the way around the Cape as far as there was space to drive, then walked a little farther. We wondered where all the debris (mostly trees) on the beach comes from. 

We admired the local art - someone had used shells, rocks, sticks and driftwood to make this dragon.

We saw lots of birds. Mom will be sad to learn that none of them were exotic. They are pelicans and other water birds.

Brown pelicans (the tops of their heads looked yellow in the sunlight but on film and in real life they are tan).

On the drive to and from the beach, in Franklin County, there are lots of bear crossing signs. We have yet to see a bear, but we were definitely on the lookout as we drove through the forest and along the coast!

Driving on the Beach

We took a ride over to Port St. Joe today to get a permit to drive on the beach in Gulf County. It was a gorgeous day for a ride and for spending time at the beach!

at Cape San Blas

the permit (good for one year)

This picture below shows (in green) the beaches you can drive on. The dotted line between the two sections is closed during turtle nesting season (May 1- October 31) but open the rest of the year. Note on the map all the sections in white are water. (It feels to me like they should be blue not white! The land is pink.)

from the Gulf County forms page

We drove first on the southern beach at Indian Pass (at the bottom of the map). We went straight down CR 30 from St. Joe to the first beach access point and headed right (west) with the idea that we might be able to drive around to Cape San Blas (on the west side of the peninsula).

This part of the beach is not developed - very few houses even. There are more houses if you head to the left. We saw a few other Jeeps, a few people out walking their dogs, and some people riding horses. 

Here's my view from the back seat:

We drove into the turtle nesting area but right after rounding the bend at the tip, the path was obstructed by big pieces of driftwood (some of them looked like whole trees). We turned around and headed over to Cape San Blas to check out that side. We drove down the beach a couple miles and then stopped to take a walk and have our picnic. We pretty much had the beach to ourselves:

We could not have asked for nicer weather - it was 71 and sunny! Crazy for December 30th. The sand was warm enough to go barefoot (which of course I did). After our picnic (turkey sandwiches, hardboiled eggs and pirate booty), we packed up and headed home. Here's the view from the driver's seat:

We're looking forward to more adventures driving on the beach this year!

Be The One

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been so overwhelming and sad. It's hard to know what to do when a problem seems so big. Thankfully I have friends to help keep me grounded. Thanks Britain for posting about this project today



Be The One is presented by the non-partisan non-political advocacy group Women of the Storm. The campaign seeks to rally the nation through this viral video and demand that anything short of complete restoration of the Gulf of Mexico, its coast lines and America's wetlands is unacceptable.

I hope you'll take a minute to watch the video and sign the petition.

Also, you can follow Be The One on Twitter: http://twitter.com/1restorethegulf and like them on facebook.

Thank you!

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