Cheryl Wixson's Kitchen

My Maine version of Coquille St. Jacques

February 6, 2010 on 7:36 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

One of the challenges of eating a local, seasonal, organic diet is to keep the inventory moving. I have a tendency to get very excited and buy copious amounts of product, only to have them get lost in the depths of my freezers. Like Maine scallops. The season is now in full swing, and I’m so tempted to stop at one of the trucks selling alongside the road to get some fresh scallops, but… before that can happen, we must enjoy last season’s bounty.

For supper last night, we lit the oven (another cold night) to roast some potato cubes and garlic cloves in olive oil. While the potatoes were roasting, PMM removed the muscle from each scallop. I defrosted a small package of Hen of the Woods mushrooms (frozen from 2 – 13 pounds mushrooms foraged in the fall). Scallops, mushrooms, and about one cup of cheese sauce (leftover from the night we made pasta) were folded together. Spooned into a casserole dotted with butter, I sprinkled bread crumbs on the top and dotted with a bit more butter. Into the oven along with the potatoes. Steamed chopped bok choi seasoned with butter and some fresh-squeezed Meyers lemon (thanks to my Aunt Sharon who shipped me 2 boxes from her trees in California) and a salad made from tomato cubes (Madison greenhouse) , red onion, feta (Sunset Acres Farm), and avocado (a luxury, I know) completed our repast. For dessert, we enjoyed a bowl of Gifford’s ice cream in front of the fire.

PMM spent a bit of time washing bottles to prepare for bottling our sparkling cider this week-end. We sampled some of each batch…It won’t be ready to drink for a few more months, I’ll keep us posted.