Scallops Provencal

Four years ago following my move back to California from NY my mom and I took an incredible trip to the South of France and Italy. So this time every year I get nostalgic for Europe and day dream about the incredible places we saw, wine we drank, and the food that we ate. So last Friday night, after a trip to Santa Monica Sea Food I decided to bring the taste of France to our dinner table and I made scallops provencal a la Ina Garten and her Barefoot in Paris cookbook.

Santa Monica Seafood is a great place, they have an oyster bar where you can sit and eat, as well as an incredible selection of all the seafood you can imagine under the sea!

1 pound of these guys were coming home with me for dinner! 

Scallops Provencal

• 1 pound of fresh bay or sea scallops
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots (2 large) 
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/3 cup dry white wine, then enjoy the rest with dinner :) 
• 1 lemon, cut in half

Place the scallops on a plate and season with the salt and pepper on both sides. Then dust the scallops with flour, this will help them to sear nicely. 

In a large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over high heat until sizzling and add the scallops in 1 layer. Lower the heat to medium and allow the scallops to brown lightly on 1 side without moving them, then turn and brown lightly on the other side. This should take about 3 to 4 minutes total.

Melt the rest of the butter in the pan with the scallops, then add the shallots, garlic, and parsley and saute for 2 more minutes, tossing the seasonings with the scallops. Add the wine and cook for one more minute. If you want a thicker sauce add a bit of flower at this step.

It is a very easy recipe, and I could not stop raving about how delish it was! Next time if we are really hungry I might skip the salad and serve the scallops over pasta? Who knows? I do know one thing the kitchen smelled amazing that night! 

50/50

What I wore 50/50

When planning an outfit I am of the school of thought that if I am wearing something short and tight on the lower half of body I should balance it out by wearing something a little more loose and less form fitting on the upper half of my body, and visa versa. It is what I call the 50/50 rule.

Below is a great display of the 50/50 rule in action, tight short bandage skirt on the bottom, button down chambray shirt on top! I was also wearing flip flops which dressed down the look even more.

I love my chambray shirt it is the perfect addition to any summer wardrobe and it is great for chilly summer evenings at the beach.

The goods: skirt, pleasure doing business- purchased at Saks. Shirt, JCrew. Sunglasses, LV

Mini Frittatas

I have always loved Giada De Laurentiis, she makes good food and her recipes are fairly simple and manageable. On a lazy Saturday or Sunday you can find me on the couch watching re-runs of her cooking shows. A while back I saw her make these Mini frittatas, they have been a go to of mine to make when people are coming over for brunch. I mentioned here that friends came over for brunch on the 4th so of course I made them again, and everyone loved them!

Mini Frittatas

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 cup whole mile
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces thinly sliced ham, chopped
• 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Ingredients do not have to be exact add more or less of the things you like, or change it up and add something else that will go well with eggs!

Preheat the oven to 375
Spray 2 mini muffin tins, mine have 24 cups each, with nonstick spray.

Whisk the eggs, milk, parsley, pepper, and salt into a large bowl. Giada's recipe tells you to add the ham and cheese at this point but I think it is better to add those ingredients after the egg mixture has been poured into the muffin tins, otherwise they are not as evenly distributed since the heavier ingredients stay at the bottom of the bowl. By waiting until the end you will have an even ratio of ingredients in each mini frittata!

Fill prepared muffin cups almost to the top with the egg mixture, then add the ham and cheese. Learn from my mistakes and do not to fill the muffin tins all the way to the top or else they will not come out in the desired mini muffin shape after baking, I over poured a few of mine, which you will notice in the picture below.

Bake until the egg mixture puffs about 8-10 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, loosen the frittatas from the muffin tins, serve on a platter and enjoy!

Sweet Summer Treat!

It is official summer is in full swing so last night we decided to grill up some burgers for dinner, which happens to be Dave's personal favorite, that and steak, what can I say the boy is a meat and potatoes kind of guy... Being a Sunday night I figured we could splurge and have some dessert, nothing crazy, just simple and sweet.

Grilled peaches, vanilla ice cream, and honey.

Start by halving some peaches, and removing the pits. The peaches we picked up weren't quite as ripe as I had hoped but we still managed to enjoy.

Prior to grilling the peaches I sprinkled some granulated sugar over them. Then grease a grill pan with some butter and place the peaches on the grill pan, or a BBQ if you don't have a grill pan.

Careful to not let the peaches burn, remove them when they have some nice grill lines on them. Scoop some vanilla ice cream into a bowl, add the peaches, drizzle with honey, and enjoy! 

Breakfast Pizza

This 4th of July we had friends over at our place to kick off the day, eat some food, and enjoy some drinks. Knowing it was going to be a long day of drinking in the sun the girls planned brunch. Once we were full and satisfied we set out on our bikes and the fun really began. I have been wanting to try making breakfast pizza for quite sometime now, so I though this would be the perfect chance.

 

Breakfast Pizza

• 2 pre-made Trader Joe's raw pizza dough
• Flour for dusting
• Kosher salt
• 6 strips of bacon
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 2 cups grated mozzarella
• 6 large eggs
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons minced chives
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, minced

If you choose, or you have the time you can make the pizza dough from scratch but I have always been really happy with the Trader Joe's dough so I decided to use that. Leaving the dough out at room temperature for about 15 minutes prior to prep helps the dough to be a little less sticky and easier to handle and stretch.

Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly dust a pizza stone, or cookie sheet if you don't have a pizza stone, with the flour, as well as rubbing some flour between your hands. Pat the dough into a disk with your fingertips, then drape the dough over your fists and carefully stretch it from beneath to form a 12 inch cirlcle. You can also achieve this with a rolling pin if you haven't mastered tossing pizza dough up into the air! 

Sprinkle the dough with half of the parmesan, mozzarella, and bacon. The bacon should already be cooked and coarsely chopped. Crack three eggs over the top and season with salt and pepper.

Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven. When the crust is golden, the cheese is melted, and the egg yolks are cooked, sprinkle half of the parsley, chives, scallions, and shallot on top. Let it cook for another couple of minutes, then pull it out of the oven and let it cool for 2 minutes, slice and serve immediatley. Prepare the second pizza the same way.

Even better the next day! We had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

4th of July Recap

For me the 4th of July is one of the best days of the year! The day is all about America, having fun with friends, beaches, boating, and BBQ's, all of which are my favorite things. This year we celebrated locally kicking off the day with brunch and roof top drinks at our place, then riding bikes to some house parties in Hermosa, and later in the evening drinks and pizza on our friends deck over looking the ocean. The weather started out gloomy but the sun was out by the afternoon... Here are some shots recapping all the fun we had!

Red and blue nail polish, a must on the 4th! 

Red, white and blue dress for a night out on the 3rd! 

Dress: Topshop

Outfit for the 4th. Bikini: Vix

Nothing says the 4th like red, white, and blue Miller High Life

Brunch

Mini Frittatas

Breakfast Pizza

Dave's frist jello shot. First of many! 

Happy 4th of July!

What I Wore

This past Friday we attended an engagement party at the Atheneum in Pasadena. It was a beautiful (and hot) evening with good friends. We sipped champagne, nibbled on delicious appetizers, and toasted the happy couple. Knowing it was going to be a warm outdoor event I decided to wear this light and comfortable dress. I purchased it last year and have gotten a lot of use out of it, making it a worthwhile purchase.

The goods... Dress: Armani, shoes: Christian Louboutin, clutch: vintage Louis Vuitton, sunglasses: Louis Vuitton.

Vintage Louis Vuitton cluch. The Louis Vuitton Cup is a sailboat race that is the challenger series for the America's Cup. The clutch among other items were in limited release around the time of the race. The race took place in Auckland, New Zealand, and I was lucky enough to attend, and pick up this great little item! 

My party favor from the evening! The gorgeous Bride-to-Be sent me home with one of the center pieces. It is now on my desk at home.