scallops with wine , garlic and herb!

Yield: 6 scallop shells

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup minced yellow onions
• 1 Tb butter
• 1½ Tb minced shallot or green onions
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1½ lbs washed scallops
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup sifted flour in a dish
• 2 Tb butter
• 1 Tb olive oil
• 2/3 cup dry white wine, or ½ cup dry white vermouth and 3 Tb water
• ½ bay leaf
• 1/8 tsp thyme
• ¼ cup grated Swiss cheese
• 2 Tb butter cut into 6 pieces

Directions

Cook the onions slowly in butter in a small saucepan for 5 minutes or so, until tender and translucent but not browned. Stir in the shallots or onions, and garlic, and cook slowly for 1 minute more. Set aside.

Dry the scallops and cut into slices ¼ inch thick. Just before cooking, sprinkle with salt and pepper, roll in flour, and shake off excess flour.

Sauté the scallops quickly in very hot butter and oil for 2 minutes to brown them lightly.

Pour the wine, or the vermouth and water, into the skillet with the scallops. Add the herbs and the cooked onion mixture. Cover the skillet and simmer for 5 minutes. Then uncover, and if necessary boil down the sauce rapidly for a minute until it is lightly thickened. Correct seasoning, and discard bay leaf.

Spoon the scallops and sauce into the shells. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter.

Set aside or refrigerate until ready to gratine.

Just before serving, run under a moderately hot broiler for 3 to 4 minutes to heat through, and to brown the cheese lightly.

Notes

Equipment:

A 10-inch enameled skillet

6 buttered scallop shells, or porcelain or pyrex shells, of 1/3 cup capacity

Leek,Onion and Tomato Soup

Yield: About 2 quarts serving 6 to 8 people

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 cups or 1 lb. peeled potatoes, sliced or diced
• 3 cups or 1 lb. thinly sliced leeks including the tender green; or yellow onions
• 2 quarts of water
• 1 Tb salt
• 4 to 6 Tb whipping cream or 2 to 3 Tb softened butter
• 2 to 3 Tb minced parsley or chives

Directions

Either simmer the vegetables, water, and salt together, partially covered, for 40 to 50 minutes until the vegetables are tender; or cook under 15 pounds pressure for 5 minutes, release pressure, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

Mash the vegetables in the soup with a fork, or pass the soup through a food mill. Correct seasoning. Set aside uncovered until just before serving, then reheat to the simmer.

Off heat and just before serving, stir in the cream or butter by spoonfuls. Pour into a tureen or soup cups and decorate with the herbs.

VARIATIONS:

Potate au Cresson (Water-cress Soup)

This simple version of water-cress soup is very good.

Serves 6 to 8 people

Ingredients are the same as for the leek and potato soup, omitting cream or butter enrichment until later and adding ¼ lb or about 1 packed cup of water-cress leaves and tender stems.

Follow the preceding master recipe, but before puréeing the soup, stir in the water cress and simmer for 5 minutes. Then purée in a food mill and correct seasoning. Off heat and just before serving, stir in 4 to 6 Tb cream or 2 to 3 Tb butter by spoonfuls. Decorate with the optional water-cress leaves.

Vichyssoise (Cold Leek and Potato Soup)

This is an American invention based on the leek and potato soup in the preceding master recipe.

Serves 6 to 8 people

Ingredients are the same as for the leek and potato soup with the addition of 3 cups peeled and sliced potatoes, 3 cups sliced white of leek, and 1½ quarts of white stock chicken stock, or canned chicken broth.

Simmer the vegetables in stock or broth instead of water as described in the master recipe. Purée the soup either in the electric blender, or through a food mill and then through a fine sieve. Stir in ½ to 1 cup cream. Season to taste, over salting very slightly as salt loses savor in a cold dish. Chill. Serve in chilled soup cups and decorate with minced chives.

Other Variations on Leek and Potato Soup:

Using the master recipe for leek and potato soup, a cup or two of one or a combination of the following vegetables may be added as indicated. Proportions are not important here, and you can use your imagination to the full. Many of the delicious soups you eat in French homes and little restaurants are made just this way, with a leek-and-potato base to which leftover vegetables or sauces and a few fresh items are added. You can also experiment on your own combinations for cold soups, by stirring a cup or more of heavy cream into the cooked soup, chilling it, then sprinkling on fresh herbs just before serving. You may find you have invented a marvelous concoction, which you can keep as a secret of the house.

To be simmered or cooked in the pressure cooker with the potatoes and leeks or onions at the start: Sliced or diced carrots or turnips; peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes, or strained canned tomatoes; half-cooked dried beans, peas, or lentils, including their cooking liquid.

To be simmered for 10 to 15 minutes with the soup after it has been puréed: Fresh or frozen diced cauliflower, cucumbers, broccoli, Lima beans, peas, string beans, okra, or zucchini; shredded lettuce, spinach, sorrel, or cabbage.

To be heated in the soup just before serving: Diced, cooked leftovers of any of the preceding vegetables; tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced, and diced.

Roast Chicken, cooking made easy from the expert JULIA CHILD

Cooking Time:

Ingredients

• A 3-lb., ready-to-cook roasting or frying chicken
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tb softened butter
• To flavor the sauce: a small sliced carrot and onion
• For basting: a small saucepan containing 2 Tb melted butter
• and 1 Tb good cooking oil
• 1/2 Tb minced shallot or green onion
• 1 cup brown chicken stock, canned chicken broth, or beef bouillon
• Salt and pepper
• 1 to 2 Tb softened butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with 1/4 tespoon salt, and smear in half the butter. Truss the chicken. Dry it thoroughly, and rub the skin with the rest of the butter.

Place the chicken breast up in the roasting pan. Strew the vegetables around it, and set it on a rack in the middle of the preheated oven. Allow the chicken to brown lightly for 15 minutes, turning it on the left side after 5 minutes, on the right side for the last 5 minutes, and basting it with the butter and oil after each turn. Baste rapidly, so oven does not cool off. Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Leave the chicken on its side, and baste every 8 to 10 minutes, using the fat in the roasting pan when the butter and oil are exhausted. Regulate oven heat so chicken is making cooking noises, but fat is not burning.

Halfway through estimated roasting time, salt the chicken (1/4 teaspoon) and turn it on its other side. Continue basting.

Fifteen minutes before end of estimated roasting time, salt (1/4 teaspoon) again and turn the chicken breast up. Continue basting.

Indications that the chicken is almost done are: a sudden rain of splutters in the oven, a swelling of the breast and slight puff of the skin, the drumstick is tender when pressed and can be moved in its socket. To check further, prick the thickest part of the drumstick with a fork. Its juices should run clear yellow. As a final check, lift the chicken and drain the juices from its vent. If the last drops are clear yellow, the chicken is definitely done. If not, roast another 5 minutes, and test again.

When done, discard trussing strings and set the chicken on a hot platter. It should sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before being carved, so its juices will retreat back into the tissues.

Remove all but two tablespoons of fat from the pan. Stir in the minced shallot or onion and cook slowly for 1 minute. Add the stock and boil rapidly over high heat, scraping up coagulated roasting juices with a wooden spoon and letting liquid reduce to about ½ cup. Season with salt and pepper. Off heat and just before serving, swirl in the enrichment butter by bits until it has been absorbed. Pour a spoonful of the sauce over the chicken, and send the rest to the table in a sauceboat.

Notes

Equipment: A shallow roasting pan just large enough to hold the chicken easily and a basting brush

AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE:

Roast chicken can wait for 20 to 30 minutes in the turned-off hot oven, its door ajar. It cannot be reheated or it loses its fresh and juicy quality.

VEGETABLE SUGGESTIONS:

Broiled tomatoes, buttered green beans or peas, and sautéed, roasted, souffléed, or fried potatoes, or potato crêpes. Stuffed mushrooms, glazed carrots, and glazed onions. Ratatouille and sautéed potatoes

WINE SUGGESTIONS

A light red wine, such as a Bordeaux-Médoc, or a rosé

Wheat Berry and Tomato Salad, fit or you and good for the heart!

Whole wheat berries lend themselves to both summer and winter dishes. Much of the flavor in this salad comes from the tangy juice of chopped tomatoes, almost like a marinade for the chewy wheat. The salad is all about texture, with crunchy celery (or cucumber) and soft feta contrasting with wheat.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup farro or wheat berries, rinsed, soaked for several hours or overnight in 1 quart water

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 to 2 cups diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 cup diced celery or cucumber, or a combination

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (more to taste)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 ounces feta, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)

1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

WHAT TO DO!? =)

1. Place the wheat berries and their soaking water in a large saucepan. Add salt to taste, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer one hour or until the grains are tender and beginning to splay. Turn off the heat, and allow the wheat berries to sit in the hot water for another 15 minutes. Drain.

2. While the wheat berries are cooking, dice the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt, and add the sherry and balsamic vinegars. Toss together, and let sit for one hour.

3. After you drain the wheat berries, toss with the tomatoes and juices. Allow to marinate together for one hour. Add the remaining ingredients, and toss together. Refrigerate until ready to serve, or serve at once.