Karyn's Kitchen

Scrumptious Sea Scallops On The Stove Top

Learn how long to cook sea scallops on the stove top for an elegant meal anytime.

Perfectly cooked sea scallops are a thing of beauty, but it burns me up to pay sky high restaurant prices for 3 of them.. They are so easy to make at home, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t learn how to cook sea scallops on the stove top. They make an elegant meal that you can enjoy preparing as well as eating.

Baked Stuffed Potato

I decided that a hearty side of baked stuffed potato was desirable alongside such a light protein, but scallops are so versatile that they pair well with any number of things.

I have never been a huge fan of plain baked potatoes, but mixing something tasty in there makes a world of difference. Simply bake your scrubbed potatoes for an hour. Then cut off the tops and scoop out the insides, leaving about a quarter inch of potato around the edges so they keep their shape. Mash the scooped out insides in a bowl and mix in whatever you think would elevate them. In this case, I had a little cream cheese to use up, so I mixed that in before returning the mixture to their skins. Topped with a touch of grated cheddar and a tiny bit of butter. Baked another half an hour, during which I roasted the carrots with a little bit of chopped fennel tops.

How Long to Cook Sea Scallops

Scallops cook very quickly, so do them once everything else you’re serving is ready. Make sure you dry them well or you won’t get any color on them. While heating up my skillet on the stove, I put my scallops into a bowl and coated them with a little oil. You can season them with all kinds of spices. I opted simply for salt and a little garlic powder here. Once your skillet is hot, put the scallops in one by one to sear. Turn them over once you see they are getting brown and they release easily from the pan. They only take a minute or two on each side. That’s it. Tender and juicy and so delicious!

After removing the scallops, I put a little white wine into the skillet and scraped up some of the brown goodness to cook a little something extra to drizzle onto the carrots.

About Flavors

Because everything on this plate is basically sweet, I decided to put my scallops on top of a bed of wilted dandelion greens. I enjoy a little bitter component in there to keep things interesting. Not everyone is a fan of these bitter greens however. If you’ve never tried them or want to introduce them gradually, I would suggest starting with a little bit mixed into a salad with other greens.

I have been inspired by my friend, Josephine, who has taught her children healthy eating habits from day one. How did she do it? She pureed her own fresh food for them as babies and got them used to all kinds of flavors that way. Did you know you could puree salmon for a baby? As children get older, they may say they don’t like a certain vegetable. Does that mean you should stop serving it? Jo says no. She puts it on the table and is often surprised when the kids reach for it again. Just because they didn’t like it once doesn’t mean they will always dislike it. There’s a lesson here for adults too, I think…You can learn how to eat more vegetables even when you don’t like them.

Ready for another restaurant quality seafood dish prepared quickly on the stove top? Please read Calamari and Pasta next.

You Can Make Michael’s Famous Homemade Tacos

Homemade taco shells are easy and fun to make.

When I met Michael, there was one thing he could cook. He called it “Michael’s Famous Tacos”. Eventually I took over the taco making in our house because it was excruciating to see how long it took him to prepare the ingredients. There are three things he is still in charge of though: Grating the cheese, cooking the homemade taco shells and assembling them.

3 tacos on a white plate — Michael’s Famous Tacos

Like most of us, Michael grew up eating home made tacos with prepackaged taco shells. However, during his college days, he learned from his friend, Adrian, how to make his own homemade taco shells.

Baking Tortillas for Homemade Taco Shells

Lay out the tortillas on a cookie sheet and grate some cheese on them. Put them into a preheated 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes. They should be crispy, but still pliable enough to bend them.

3 baked taco shells on a white plate held in place with a spoon — Here’s how Michael gets the baked tortillas to hold their shape while he works on the rest of the tortillas.

The Meat

We used ground turkey here, but it could be whatever kind of meat you choose. Michael used to use a packaged seasoning mix, but I prefer to create my own. After browning the meat, I add to it:

salt
garlic powder
dried minced onion
cumin
paprika
smoked paprika
cayenne pepper
oregano

The Salad Mix

romaine
tomatoes
green onions
cilantro
avocado

Of course you can still make tacos without all these ingredients. Use what you have. After crushing some garlic with salt in my mortar, I whisk in these ingredients:

lime juice or vinegar of some kind
olive oil
salsa

Flat baked tortillas with cheese on a white plate with half an avocado — Baked cheese tortillas make an easy snack or can become the base for tostadas

For tostadas, you would bake the tortillas about 5 minutes longer.

Got any meat left over? Toss it into a salad the next day along with some rice or beans for a satisfying lunch. Make some dressing by crushing in your mortar and mixing together:

garlic
salt
coriander
lime juice
olive oil
salsa

taco salad on a white plate — Taco salad

Got more soft tortillas? Make fajitas. See Use Your Head, Plan Ahead.

How To Lighten Up Your Chicken Dinner with Lemon Mushroom Sauce

Roasted chicken with mushroom sauce and lemon is light and satisfying.

I roast a chicken pretty frequently. Especially these days, it seems like the best deal as far as chicken goes. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets the other day when I saw how much they were asking for a couple of boneless, skinless breasts. A whole chicken gives me so much versatility.

That doesn’t mean I want to eat it the same way all the time, though. Michael could eat roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy with peas and stuffing 3 times a week, but that’s a little heavy for me to eat so often. So, what’s a girl to do? One easy idea is to cook the whole thing and slice down just the leanest part you want to eat that day. Skip the gravy and mashed potatoes in favor of something lighter like a lemon mushroom sauce.

chicken breast with — Chicken breast with lemon mushroom sauce, roasted baby potatoes and sauteed spinach

If you’ve got a chicken in the oven, it’s a no brainer to toss potatoes or another vegetable into the roasting pan during the last half hour of cooking.

I put the raw giblets in the freezer for another time as I didn’t feel like making and eating gravy. Instead, I opted to make a quick and light sauce once it was time to serve dinner. Into the skillet went some olive oil and sliced mushrooms. Cooked on high heat until brown and then added minced garlic and about a minute later some lemon juice. So easy and delicious.

If it’s too hot to turn on the oven, do it in a skillet instead. You can cut up the raw chicken however you like. You can cut it into pieces at the joints or just slice thin pieces that you would like to cook for one meal. Why not? You can cook the remainder later in any number of ways and create a variety of dishes.

Does this sound crazy to you? Why should you do it?

Roasting a chicken is easy
Leftovers are fuel for the imagination
Boiling the carcass yields the best stock

I’m talking about simplifying as much as possible! Cooking without a recipe is liberating.

For another dish based on slicing out the raw breast of a whole chicken and serving with delicious sauce, please read Jump For Joy next.

Easy Protein Salads With Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing

Cook eggs perfectly and make a satisfying spinach salad with healthy homemade salad dressing.

Here’s a quick spinach salad with healthy homemade salad dressing for a nourishing lunch. Eggs are a natural with spinach. First I hard cooked them by putting them into a pot full of water and letting it come to a boil. Then took the pot off the heat and covered for 15 minutes. That’s why they’re called hard cooked, not hard boiled. I dislike an overcooked boiled egg.

Once the eggs are done, put them into cold water to stop the cooking process. If you’re not going to eat them immediately, change the water once it’s no longer cold and then refrigerate them once cool enough. You could do an ice bath instead if you have some ice.

spinach salad with hard cooked eggs on a china plate with black border — Spinach salad with eggs and salami

About Eggs

I had picked up these eggs on clearance because they were near their sell by date, which really doesn’t mean that much. Eggs are good in the fridge for some time and it’s actually preferable to use an older egg for hard cooked. They’re easier to peel because there is more air space between the white and the shell. I wasn’t paying strict attention to the timing, so it looks like I could have cooked them a tiny bit less for a creamier yolk. But as long as there is no gray sulfur ring around the yolk, which happens when they’re overcooked, I’m happy.

If I was cooking a larger batch of eggs, I would put them into a steamer basket instead of a pot full of water. They are easiest to peel after steaming. Again, plunge them into cold water or ice bath to stop the cooking process once finished.

Dressing

Dressing here was made using:

part of a shallot,
dijon mustard,
apple cider vinegar
honey
plain yogurt
olive oil
salt
thyme
fennel

I was thinking tarragon might be good, but I was out of it, so I used the herbs on hand. A mayonnaise based dressing would have also worked well. Use what you have to create something delicious. Taste as you go (using a clean spoon) and learn to develop your intuition in the kitchen and start cooking without a recipe.

I realized I had a little salami that needed to be consumed, so I chopped that up and threw it in along with some tomatoes. This salami is called finocchiona, being made with fennel (finocchio in Italian). So it was a good match with the fennel flavored dressing.

One word about dressing, in case you are used to just pouring it on top of the salad: Try tossing your salad with the dressing before serving. You use less and it tastes so much better having your vegetables evenly coated with flavor.

Here’s another way to get some protein in your salad: smoked herring from a can. It’s wonderful with sauerkraut, which is probiotic. A basic lemon vinaigrette is all that’s needed for this healthy homemade salad dressing.

salad with herring and sauerkraut on a white plate — Salad with smoked herring and sauerkraut

For more on making your own healthy homemade salad dressing, please read Undressing the Dressing next.

How Many Ways Can You Do Butakim?

This sauce for stir fry will give your taste buds a thrill.

I don’t really like to name a dish because I think it sets up an expectation for what it should be exactly. So, I quickly regretted it when Michael asked what was for dinner and I replied, “Butakim”. He saw me slicing a red cabbage and was very concerned about the outcome of this dish. Ingredients for butakim usually include baby bok choy as pictured below. But if I don’t have that, I will use another cabbage; even a red one. Get inspired by this spicy sauce for stir fry and cook a fantastic meal with ingredients you have on hand.

baby bok choy with mushrooms, onions, ground turkey, kimchee and yellow rice on a white plate with a fork on it. a head of garlic and a beige napkin also appear.

What Is Butakim?

Butakim is a dish we discovered at a local izakaya (Japanese pub). Buta means pork and kim is a shortened form of kimchee (spicy, fermented cabbage). That izakaya no longer exists and we always had trouble getting them to bring the rice at the right time anyway. We didn’t want the rice for dessert. We wanted to eat it with the butakim. So I started making it at home.

The first thing to do is to take the kimchee out of the refrigerator. I like it to come to room temperature if possible because I want to stir it in at the end of preparing the dish. Why? I don’t want to lose the probiotic benefits by cooking the kimchee.

I began with browning some ground turkey. Then I removed it from the skillet because it was very lean and I didn’t want to overcook it. Next, I sauteed the mushrooms and then added some sliced onions. Some minced garlic goes in there too. Finally add the bok choy.

If you’re using red cabbage, be sure to splash a little vinegar into the skillet because the acid helps preserve the pretty purple color of the cabbage. It doesn’t look very appetizing if it and everything else in the skillet turns blue.

Sauce For Stir Fry

Once the ingredients appear to be nearly finished cooking, start adding your saucy stuff: soy sauce, mirin (sweet cooking sake) and Go-chu-jang (Korean hot and sweet sauce). If you don’t have some of these ingredients, you can improvise with whatever you have. Got some Sriracha (spicy Thai chili pepper sauce)? Some other kind of hot sauce? No mirin? Try a little sugar or honey with a little water. Taste and see what you think it needs in order to find an appealing balance of sweet, salty and spicy. You will have fun expanding your palate and cooking without a recipe.

Of course, it’s the kimchee that ultimately makes the dish. So stir that in at the end along with your cooked meat. Be sure to put a little liquid into the jar once you have poured all the kimchee out. That way you can shake it up and get the last bits of spicy goodness out. A little soy sauce or chicken broth would do the trick.

Butakim on a white plate with a jar of kimchee and garlic in the background with beige napkins. A blue and white ceramic soy sauce bottle is in the foreground.

Basic Ingredients:

ground or sliced meat of your choice
cabbage such as baby bok choy
sliced onion
mushrooms (such as shitake or button)
garlic
soy sauce
mirin (or something sweet)
Go-chu-jang (or other hot sauce)
vinegar (perhaps)
Kimchee
cooked rice

Want to learn about other probiotic foods? Please read Miso Adaptable next.

Simple Brown Gravy for Shrimp and Grits

Let regional cuisine inspire you to experiment in your own kitchen with gravy for shrimp and grits.

I haven’t spent a lot of time in the south, but whatever time I have enjoyed there has been full of memorable meals. One of those that still makes me salivate whenever I think of it is shrimp and grits. It was at Mert’s in Charlotte, NC.

When I returned home, I searched for recipes, but everyone makes it differently and I couldn’t find one that seemed similar to what I had eaten in the restaurant. Lots of recipes out there are heavy on the tomatoes, but what I remember from Mert’s all these years later is the roux based brown gravy. So naturally I had to experiment cooking without a recipe. Not sure if I do it exactly like the restaurant, but I must say it’s delicious and it’s simple to make gravy for shrimp and grits.

shrimp and grits with brown gravy plated with greens in a white bowl

Making Grits

Polenta or grits are coarsely ground cornmeal. I prefer that texture to finer grinds. I cook mine in the slow cooker because it frees me up to do other things, but you can cook it in a saucepan on the stove just as well.

I boil flavorful liquid (chicken broth in this case) and then whisk in 1/4 the amount of grits. Let it boil for a minute or two while continuing to whisk it. Then dump it all into the slow cooker and cook on high for an hour and 20 minutes. Stir about every half hour and test it when it looks like it’s ready. Add more liquid if you need to. It’s a great base for many simple meals.

Making Stock

Then I peel the shrimp and boil the shells in water to make some stock. I prefer easy peel shrimp because it means I can make stock with the shells for zero waste cooking. But if your shrimp came pre-peeled, you can use chicken broth or vegetable broth. Even better, make some fish stock with dried bonito (fish) flakes available in Asian markets. Use what you have on hand to develop your intuition in the kitchen and start cooking without a recipe.

Gravy for Shrimp and Grits

Chop your vegetables before you start making the roux for the gravy. You will need to have them ready to add to the pot at the right time. I used:

Onions
Bell pepper
Celery
Tomato (at the end)

Now it’s time to make a quick roux. I like using a chef’s pot with a rounded bottom like a wok because it’s easier to keep bits from burning in the edges of a straight sided pot; but whichever kind of pot you have will work.

Whisk together equal parts of flour and butter or oil over high heat. I made enough for 4 servings, so that meant about 2 Tablespoons of each. It will get brown quickly, so whisk fast and watch. Take it off the heat if you think it’s getting too dark too quickly.

Once the roux looks like melted chocolate, add the onions and other vegetables. I didn’t have any green bell pepper, so I used a red one. Not sure if others put celery in there, but I do because I like it and why not add another vegetable?

Keep whisking as you add the vegetables and take the pot off the heat if you need to. The vegetables, especially the onions, will keep the roux from burning.

Seasoning

Reducing the heat, I minced a little garlic to add to the pot at that point and added a little shrimp stock to let it simmer while I grabbed my spices. I used, in descending order of amounts:

Salt
French thyme
Paprika
Basil
Oregano
Cayenne

You could make this as spicy as you wanted. I opted to keep it mild. I kept adding stock as the vegetables cooked in the sauce until I had the right amount of liquid and the right consistency. Once I decided everything was just about done, I seasoned the raw shrimp with a little salt and added it to the pot along with a little chopped tomato. Shrimp only takes a couple of minutes to cook. It’s done when it turns pink.

After tasting each element of this meal, I decided to add some grated smoked gouda to the grits before plating. I added a touch of maple syrup to the greens and decided everything was well balanced. I hope you enjoy this simple meal as much as I do. It makes me want to dance!

For another southern shrimp dish using more tomatoes, please read Creole Shrimp next.

How to Make Calamari Steak and Lemony Pasta

Get inspired to cook by your travels and memories. This calamari steak and pasta remind us of good times.

For the most romantic dining experience, I long to revisit La Sponda in Positano. The decor and view are unmatched…and the candles! I have never seen so many in one room! Our meal there was so memorable.

In Italy, Michael and I always ordered pasta as a first course before moving on to fish or meat. At La Sponda, we started with lemon, anchovy angel hair. I don’t claim to know exactly how they prepared it, but here’s how I make it at home for a simple celebratory meal:

Start by sautéing some chopped garlic in olive oil. Then add a can of drained anchovies and smash them as they cook down. You can let the garlic turn golden brown, but before it burns, pour some lemon juice into the pot and take it off the heat while whisking. The Amalfi lemons in Italy are sweeter than what we have at home, so I usually add a pinch of sugar to this sauce. (If you have Meyer lemons, they are great for this dish.) Add about the same amount of olive oil as lemon juice and toss with your cooked pasta and some chopped parsley. Angel hair is fantastic, but it’s easy to overcook it and it sucks up all the sauce rather quickly, so I often use thin spaghetti instead.

Add some julienned zucchini when tossing pasta with the sauce for some extra veggies. I like to put my julienned zucchini in a colander, sprinkle some salt over it and let some of the moisture drain out of it while I prepare the rest of the meal. It slumps down to a noodle-like texture that way.

Ingredients for Lemon Anchovy Pasta:

thin spaghetti
wilted, julienned zucchini
garlic
olive oil
anchovies
lemon juice
sugar
parsley

Making Calamari Steak

After pounding out calamari steaks thin with a mallet to tenderize them, give them a bread coating using flour seasoned with garlic powder, salt and French thyme. Then dip in egg and afterwards coat in panko bread crumbs for a crispy crust. The calamari only takes about a minute or two to cook on each side in a medium-hot skillet with grapeseed oil on the stove top.

Michael grew up eating abalone that had been pounded out this way, but it became so difficult to find due to overfishing. So, here’s what his family decided to do: make (squid) calamari steak, abalone style. Once you start making it yourself, you will never order it in a restaurant again.

Ingredients for Breaded Calamari Steak:

calamari steaks
flour
garlic powder
French thyme
salt
beaten egg
panko bread crumbs
grapeseed oil

What if you have pasta left over? Repurpose it by adding broccoli, cauliflower and canned salmon for lunch the next day.

Do you love seafood with pasta as much as we do? Learn how to get Skillful With Shellfish next.

Cook Moist and Flavorful Meatballs in the Oven

Make moist and flavorful meatballs and learn how to cook them in the oven for a simple meal that will bring your family together.

I enjoy a good meatloaf. So easy and versatile, besides making great leftovers for sandwiches. If meatloaf is a little too pedestrian for you, try forming them into balls or patties. Anything in the shape of a ball suddenly screams party…at least that’s how Michael feels…and they’re so easy to cook in the oven.

You can choose from any array of herbs and spices to change up the personality of ground meat.

3 meatballs with kale and carrots on a white plate — Meatballs with carrots and Tuscan kale

For the meatballs pictured above, I used some leftover rice instead of bread crumbs. (Neither of those are absolutely necessary, by the way. I make all kinds of meatballs without either.) This is one reason I often make my rice a little bit plain to start. It gives me more options for using the leftovers later.

I decided to season the meat with:

cumin
cinnamon
garlic powder
nutmeg

Some diced onion adds flavor and moisture. An egg helps bind the ingredients together. Again, it’s not absolutely necessary. I have often made meatballs without eggs.

How to Cook Meatballs in the Oven

I baked these on a cookie sheet in the oven for about 20 minutes. Turn them over at around 12 minutes or so to cook evenly. That’s the easiest for me, but you could certainly do them in a skillet if you preferred or simmer them in a soup.

3 meatballs with tahini sauce, rice and swiss chard on a white plate — Leftover meatballs with tahini sauce, rice with zucchini and swiss chard

Leftovers freeze well, but we ate these a couple days later with some yogurt/tahini (sesame seed paste) sauce . Lots of ways to make that. I put into my food processor:

a clove of garlic
plain yogurt
tahini
lemon juice
salt

The ratio of yogurt to tahini was nearly equal, but a little heavier on the yogurt. That’s what I decided tasted good. You decide what works for you. Cooking without a recipe is liberating.

For more on working smarter, not harder, please read Use Your Head, Plan Ahead next.

Can You Make an Effortless Benedict?

Simple meals for elegant breakfast at home.

What do you do with left over prosciutto? I decided to make the breakfast bites described below because I believe in zero waste cooking. Who says it can’t also become part of a celebratory meal? I think simple meals are the best. Here’s a brief video on that topic:

I have probably seen something like this somewhere before, so I am not claiming to reinvent the wheel. I just want to encourage you to use what you have and experiment with using it in a new way to create simple meals for your family and friends.

toast with strawberry jam beside prosciutto egg bites on a white plate — Scrambled or poached? You decide.

Michael prefers his eggs scrambled, while I like variety. So I lined the cups of a muffin tin with prosciutto and poured raw, scrambled eggs into some and raw whole eggs into the others. Baked them in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes just until set, meaning the scrambled eggs shouldn’t move much when you jiggle the pan.

Certainly I could have cooked the whole eggs less and left yolks more creamy. But no one wants runny scrambled eggs, so I let them all cook for the same amount of time. If you were making a whole bunch of these, you could put the scrambled ones in one tin and whole eggs in another. Take the whole eggs out of the oven sooner. That would be just about the easiest way I could think of to make eggs benedict for a crowd. A lot simpler than poaching two dozen eggs in a pot!

The prosciutto is rather salty, so I didn’t add anything else to the eggs, although you absolutely could top them with cheese or herbs or any number of additions. I decided to serve toast with strawberry jam on the side because I thought the sweetness would offset the saltiness…kind of like a Monte Cristo sandwich.

Who says this must be served for breakfast? The saltiness of the prosciutto and the silkiness of the eggs would pair well with bitter greens too. How about a dandelion green salad with figs? Or sauteed kale or rapini?

Mmm…is it lunch time yet?

cappuccino in a white cup with heart design in foam

But first, cappuccino!

For another breakfast idea, please read Pancakes next.

Feelin’ Caribbean With Easy Mango Chutney and Fish

Learn to cook fish and experiment with new flavors.

I have never been to the Caribbean and don’t claim to have much experience in sampling their cuisine. But I wanted to cook some fish and I had a ripe mango and a red bell pepper that I needed to use, so I decided that my inspiration would come from the islands with a mango chutney.

First I must say that my ratio wasn’t ideal here. I wanted to use that red pepper, but I should have used less in relation to the mango. Note to self and to the rest of you: More mango, less red pepper. Develop your intuition in the kitchen as you start cooking without a recipe.

Mango Chutney

mango
red bell pepper
jalapeno (always keep one in the freezer)
ginger (always keep some in the freezer)
shallot
garlic powder
red pepper flakes
cardamom
lime juice
salt (in case that wasn’t obvious)

Again, I’m not giving you a recipe to follow. I mixed together some things that I thought would taste good together and sampled along the way, trying to balance spicy, sweet and sour elements. In the end, I added a tiny pinch of sugar because I wanted it a little sweeter, but if I had used more mango compared to bell pepper, that would not have been necessary.

Additional lime juice squeezed over everything finished off the dish nicely. By the way, slitting the lime wedge for your diner means they won’t squirt juice in your eye when they squeeze it on their meal.

The Fish

Just about any fish would have been fine here. I had some cod pieces because they’re so affordable. I recommend buying pieces because you can often find them at a better price than their more attractive fillet counterparts. At my local fish market, I look for chowder pieces because I can usually get more expensive wild fish varieties at a discount that way.

I seasoned this fish with garlic powder and Chinese 5 Spice, which contains:

Anise
cinnamon
star anise
cloves
ginger

Then I baked it in the oven at 350 until it was done. Maybe 15 minutes? Thin fillets and pieces really don’t take very long to cook. What I know about fish is that you just have to check it periodically to see if it’s ready.

Growing up, we always cooked fish whole and ate it with chopsticks. I recommend the chopsticks if you cook a whole fish because it’s easier to eat around the bones.

Testing Fish for Doneness

How did my mother know when the fish was ready? She would call my Japanese father in once she decided it was time to check it. He would come in, test it with chopsticks to see if it flaked in the middle. Usually he would then say, “Little more bet.” Translation: Cook it a little bit more.

So, that’s my method for not overcooking fish. Look at it before you think it’s ready and then check it again in a couple minutes if it needed longer the first time. It’s that simple.

For another idea on dressing up your fish, please read Fearless About Fish next.