2010 resolution

Ok, I've been a bad blogger!!! I had all intentions of blogging 09 away, however, life got in the way in a big way. The grand finale was a move into a new community, new home, new school for my best boy and a new (bigger more functional) kitchen.
So, I have no excuses now, as I settle in to my new home and kitchen.
I'll start 2010 off with the Squid and Scallop stew that I made for dinner last night on NYE. We stayed home with the kids (ages 7 and 5), and drank Sofia (Francis Ford Coppola's Blanc du Blanc sparkling wine).

I started with a saute of garlic and onions.
The squid was cleaned already, so all I needed to do was give it a quick rinse and slice the bodies into rings. I added the squid to the pan and deglazed with fresh squeezed orange juice, clementine juice and a 2002 Hop Kiln Gewurztraminer. I also added S+P, smoked paprika and organic strained tomatoes. The strained tomatoes were by Bionature and came in a glass bottle, 24oz, no salt added. They made a wonderful, silky sauce. Also in the mix were pit-less Picholine and Nicoise olives. To counter the saltiness, I added a squeeze of Agave syrup. I put in a couple bay leaves and some parsley stems for herbal undertones.
After bringing the squid up to the boil, I reduced the heat and covered and let it simmer for close to 40 minutes. The thought behind squid is, it gets cooked for either a short period of time, like a quick grill, or for a long period of time, like a braise in a stew.
After 40 minutes I checked on the squid and it was nice and tender, ready for the scallops. I added in the scallops, another round of fresh squeezed clementine juice and let the scallops cook for just a few minutes.
Once the scallops were cooked through, I added the zest of 1 orange and 1 clementine, a big bunch of chopped parsley, a squeeze of lemon juice and a readjustment of S+P.

It was a delicious way to finish up 2009. We ate it with a salad of baby romaine, sliced baby corn, chopped tamari almonds and a mild feta cheese, with a fresh clementine vinaigrette, as well as a crusty ciabbata. I can't resist a chance to add in a shot of my sous chef, Louise :)
Happy 2010!