Cooking Light-er

by Jeanne

          

I’m not of the food blogger ilk to post on "what I ate last night."  No one’s that interested, right?  BUT I need to make an exception for dinner last night.  After a two hour walk along the waterfront in what can only be described as a picture postcard afternoon I "went the extra mile" in the health department and decided to make something special but healthy for dinner. 

Best of Cooking Light, published by the magazine earlier this year, contains 500 "all-star" recipes.  This recipe serves two which is perfect as although I cook for myself more than most, a lot of recipes serve 4, 6 or 8.  (When will magazines start reflecting their demographics?  half of the US population is single!).  I am one woman who will eat leftovers for one, maybe two meals. Also, having grown up in thrifty New England, I hate wasting food.  So this recipe looked tasty (it was) and was fairly simple and needed less than 30 minutes from start to finish. 

This recipe is a keeper.  It’s all in the sauce.  Scallops were a good source of protein but if you are watching your pennies you will enjoy the dish without it.  Although I’m still trying to reconcile a "healthy recipe" that contains heavy cream.

Pan-Seared Scallops on Linguine with Tomato-Cream Sauce
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tbsp. grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tbsp. whipping cream
1 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup chopped seeded plum tomato
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 cups hot cooked linguine
Cooking spray
3/4 lb. large sea scallops
1/8 tsp. salt
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium skillet; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 5 minutes). Drain mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, reserving liquid; discard solids.

Return wine mixture to skillet. Add cream, and cook over medium heat for 1 minute. Add butter, stirring until butter melts. Stir in chopped tomato, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Add linguine, and toss well. Cover and keep warm.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle scallops with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Arrange scallops in pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Add scallops to pasta mixture; toss gently to combine. Garnish with chopped cilantro, if desired.

Yield: 2 servings (about 3/4 cup pasta and 5 oz. scallops)

Note:  Cilantro was not included in my dish as it was not available at my local market, Real Foods.