What a difference a week makes.
Last week, I was ready to concede to the flavors and clothing of fall. Soup and comfort foods were on the menu. Days upon days of cold weather prompted the Kitchen Genius to drag all of our warmer clothes out of the attic. Or maybe it was my nagging because I was seriously freezing.
Either way, the hallway to our bedroom is full of boxes that never got unpacked that week and then a heatwave hit. All of those summer clothes that are still in the drawers feel like vindication for my perennial procrastination. Especially last weekend when my bathing suit sure came in handy.
Every so often, I remember to drop everything and just enjoy a moment that I know will be fleeting. With that in mind, on Sunday I decided to ignore all chores and those boxes in the hall and spend the day at the beach with my granddaughters. I packed a picnic lunch and tons of kid-friendly foods like peanut butter and homemade grape jelly sandwiches, Cape Cod potato chips, Halo mandarin oranges, apples, cheese and crackers and drove to Yarmouth Port to pick up Lilia and Chloe.
We all donned masks and drove to Harwich to pick up Isabelle. With a backseat full of car seats, I headed to my mother’s private association beach on Sheep’s Pond. My step-father dropped my mom off and we spent a couple of hours watching the kids splash and play. It was both wonderful and relaxing.
Around 2:45, I packed them all back into the car and dropped my mom off at her house. Then the girls and I went to Linnell Landing beach to watch their Papi gather razor clams. The process used to gather razor clams requires patience. The Kitchen Genius squirts holes that he suspects might be from a clam and then waits for the clam to emerge. At one point, Lilia had her face right next to the water as she watched one hole in the hopes a clam would emerge.
But just as often, she would fidget and play with the sand and pretty much discourage the clam from showing up. Then she and Isabelle would start playing with Barbies and forget all about the clams. Out of the three girls, Chloe was the master of patience. She was willing to just sit and watch each hole for as long as it took.
In addition to summer activities, we also ate some summery meals. I am an unabashed lover of corn on the cob. I could literally eat it every night during the summer, when the local Massachusetts corn is available. It’s as sweet as candy. We’ve been buying corn several times a week all summer from Allard Farm stand. It will be a sad day for me when I show up and the corn bin is empty, although I have been enjoying the apples from there lately.
Corn goes really well with scallops so on Saturday night we made a warm corn and avocado salad topped with seared scallops. We added some bacon, jalapeno and tomatoes for an extra boost of flavor that made our taste buds happy. If that meal was our last ode to summer, it sure will be a worthy one because it was memorable.
Scallops on a Corn, Bacon and Avocado Salad
Serves 2
3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1/4 cup diced red onions 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced 2 ears of corn on the cob 5 strips of bacon, cooked until crisp and diced 1 avocado, diced 4 cocktail size tomatoes, cut into wedges 1-pound scallops, side muscle removed 2 tablespoons fresh parsley 1/2 lemon, juiced
Heat half of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, red pepper and jalapeno pepper and sauté until tender, about four minutes. Cut corn kernels off of the cob and add them to the pan. Sauté another 3 to 4 minutes until corn is cooked. Place corn mixture in a bowl and add bacon, avocado, and tomatoes. Toss lightly to combine.
Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel. Pat scallops dry and season them with salt and pepper to taste. Heat remaining half of olive oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Cook the scallops in batches so you don’t overcrowd the skillet. The pan needs to be quite hot and there needs to be a space between each scallop. Sear the scallops for about 2 minutes per side.
Divide the corn mixture between two soup bowls. Sprinkle corn mixture with parsley. Top each bowl with evenly divided scallops. Sprinkle lemon juice on top and serve immediately with some nice crusty bread.
October 04, 2020 at 09:05PM
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Simply Delicious: One last summer salad - Wicked Local Wellfleet
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salad
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