In January I was able to spend a few days in Austin Texas, staying with Jonathon and Niva Levy. It was my first time in Texas and I was enchanted by the rolling country out to the north west of the city. The city, with its “Austin Keep it Weird” vibe was also entrancing. I am looking forward to going back.
One evening Jonathon and I cooked together (always an important thing to do with good friends). I had some nice plump scallops and one deformed and somewhat shredded extra. I was braising carrots as a side dish and the carrots were simmering away in a broth of butter, sugar, white wine, a touch of thyme and some chicken stock. The white gleam of the scallop and deep orange of the carrots moved me to chop my little deformed extra into three pieces and drop it into the carrot braise to simmer for a few minutes.
When just tender, I removed them from the liquid, put them on small crisps and topped with a tiny slice of lemon from the tree in the garden. The sweetness of the carrots brought out some new subtleties in the flavor of the scallops and the lemon cut it nicely. Next time I try this I may leave out the chicken stock. I normally have it in braised carrots to deepen the flavor but in this use it may be blurring some of the notes from the wine-scallops-carrots.
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