Day 36 - March 29, 2015 - Lenten Scallops Saganaki - Νηστίσιμα Χτένια Σαγανάκι

Every week, we talk about what different things we can make for this blog, for family dinner, and for ourselves.  Every week we talk about a variety of foods that we don't make often.  This week, though, we took a big step to make one of those infrequently made foods -- scallops.  They are a nice choice when it comes to seafood, especially the big scallops; they are meaty, filling, tender, filling, and delicious.  Then, why don't we make them more often?  Probably because it is so easy to overcook scallops and ruin them, we are afraid of spending all that money on food we will ruin and waste.

There are several posts online that describe cooking this dish in a two handed pan or vessel ("sagani" in Greek means a two handled pan/vessel, while a "tigani" identifies a one handled pan/vessel). We decided today to use our trusted Fiestaware earthenware dishes (by the way, the Homer Laughlin Company is the last remaining American porcelain dish company in existence!)

Pretty well all the recipes we read used butter and cheese; we realised that we had most of these things on hand, we did not need butter, nor cheese to make saganaki yummy, so our scallops were on the way to becoming dinner for three.  It was perfect, especially since we had 15 scallops and three people, we have 6 two-handled, individual, oven-safe dishes in which to bake the saganaki, so we were ready to go!  And, to our surprise, it took a total of 20 minutes, incliuding baking time, to complete this recipe.  Here is how our version comes up:

For this recipe, you will need the following:

15 large scallops, rinsed

1/2 cup olive oil

juice of half a lemon

1/3 cup dry white wine

2 shots Ouzo

1/2 teaspoon paprika

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1/3 cup sliced leeks, sliced very thin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt and pepper as needed

2 TBSP parsley for garnish

This was easy.  Rinse your scallops and dry them off rather well.  You don't want or need extra liquid sitting in this dish, and that liquid may interfere with the flavour of the wine, ouzo, garlic, etc.  Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the scallops while they sit and wait for the rest of the recipe to happen.

Next, mix all the other ingredients to make a sauce -- well, more like a dressing.  Mix them well so everything is incorporated.  Pour this sauce/dressing over the scallops, dividing equally between the pan/dish.  Then, top with the sliced leeks, sprinkling the leeks all over the top of the dish.  Lastly, sprinkle bread crumbs to almost cover the top of each dish.  They will look beautiful going into the oven.

Now, bake the scallops at 450º F (175º C) for 8-10 minutes.  Put the dishes on a cookie sheet to give them some stability.  This will also prevent any liquid bubbling over into your oven (if you made too much liquid).

You want the liquid to cook the scallops and the top to become golden brown.  After 10 minutes, if the scallops are cooked but the top is not brown, turn on the broiler and put the baking pan/dishes under the broiler to make the bread crumb topping that lovely toasty colour.  Garnish these with the parsley that you have, chopped or whole, and serve hot.

This is a great dish to serve small groups, since you can bake them directly in the individual casserole dishes.  They look impressive, are not hard to make, and are a filling choice for a Lenten meal.

"A man who is wrathful with us is a sick man; we must apply a plaster to his heart - love; we must treat him kindly, speak to him gently, lovingly. And if there is not deeply-rooted malice against us within him, but only a temporary fit of anger, you will see how his heart, or his malice, will melt away through your kindness and love - how good will conquer evil. A Christian must always be kind, gracious, and wise in order to conquer evil by good."

St. John of Kronstadt, "My Life in Christ"
Source of quote: http://theodorakis.net/orthodoxquotescomplete.html