Chef PJ

For this year's Hallmark Holiday, I volunteered to cook Kristen a nice, gourmet-like dinner. After some thought and research my menu was seared scallops over sun-dried tomato risotto with baked asparagus. Yum, indeed.

We don't indulge in seafood unless we are out for dinner (Kristen is not a big fan of it, although I could eat it everyday) and with Little Man going out has not been something we've done much of. Besides, we like wine and with an abundance of it at home it just seems silly to spend the $$$ when we have everything we need at home (and I think I can cook most meals equal to the restaurants, and do it healthier).

I chose scallops since this is one of the few items from the sea Kristen will eat. And scallops are incredibly tasty and very simple to prepare (season with salt, pan sear for 4-5 minutes in butter and oil and voila, dinnertime!). Also, scallops are a sustainable seafood. If you live in Chicago check out Dirk's seafood. He stocks only fresh stuff and buys only seafood and fish that are sustainable (avoiding further reducing the world's fisheries). To complete the dinner, the main entree was paired with a '94 Rioja.

Now dessert. If there is a requirement for this silly holiday it is chocolate. Awhile back I dog eared a recipe I read in Food and Wine for Chocolate Cookies with Malted Chocolate Filling. I am proud to say my cookies turned out just like the picture from the magazine. I am also proud at my improv skills. The recipe called for Ovaltine. I wasn't about to drop $5 on a can of that stuff knowing I'd never use it again. Instead, we had regular malted milk powder so I mixed it with milk chocolate cocoa powder and got the same result. Smart, I know!

Making these damn things took a few hours on Saturday, but admittedly it was fun to do. I cook a lot, but bake very little so I enjoyed the challenge. To go with the cookies, I caved and brought ice cream into the home. Just a simple vanilla to compliment the chocolate.

We exchanged cards while we ate, listened to music, just chit-chatted, polished off the bottle and relaxed.