scallops recipe; sea bass recipe

stopped by the marche to pick up fish. after so many restaurant meals, i’m feeling a bit heavier than before and wanted to eat in. i bought “bar” (sea bass) and scallops. the lady put fennel branches into the center of the fish and told me to put on olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice. then to cook with tomatoes in a hot oven – 200 c (400 F) for 20 mins. p. offered to cook, so i gave him those instructions. it was fantastic. the fennel flavor totally infused the fish. the tomatoes added extra flavor. must remember this recipe.

scallops are always very expensive in the restaurants. typically a dish with 4-6 scallops will cost 15 – 25 euros. i saw scallops in their shells in the marche. couldn’t tell for sure if it was 5.95 or 15.95 a kilo because the price tag was a bit buried. plus, i didn’t know how many scallops would BE in a kilo, with the weight of the shells. so i asked for 6 shells and that weighed a kilo. in fact, it was 5.95 per kilo plus there was a special of 3 kilos for 15Euro. the fish lady deshelled them for me, carefully placing them with the orange part, in 2 half shells and wrapping it up. they were so beautiful. i looked up various recipes and basically found that they could be cooked by themselves in olive oil or butter in a frying pan for 1-2 minutes a side. i found a recipe that added mango and a mix of oil, vinegar, coriander and some other things. (http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6755/scallops+with+fresh+mango+and+saffron+sauce or go to www.taste.com.au and search for “scallops with fresh mango saffron sauce”)

since i had most of the important ingredients, i improvised from there to make the sauce. p. cooked the scallops. it was fantastic. i will try not to order them in restaurants anymore.

i helped jj with her violin practice today. she was having problems with one exercise and i decided i needed to work with her. haven’t done that for a while for a couple of reasons. – she is good at doing it on her own and doesn’t like me interfering, but also, just got out of the habit. always busy doing something, though will stop in and interject comments when i am home and listening. actually a good way of doing it – she should be more independent now anyway.

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