The High-Protein Cookbook - Linda West Eckhardt [13]
MAKES 2 SERVINGS
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
12 large fresh basil leaves
12 ounces large sea scallops
CREAMED SPINACH
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 ounces fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons cream
Salt to taste
½ teaspoon freshly milled black pepper
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Soak 12 small wooden skewers in water for at least 20 minutes. Place a prosciutto slice on a work surface, then lay a basil leaf at one end. Top with a scallop. Wrap the prosciutto around the scallop and basil, tucking in the sides. Repeat the process to make 12 packets. Thread onto the soaked skewers, cover, and set them aside. Heat a grill or a large skillet.
Grill the packets over a medium charcoal fire or in the skillet, filmed with some of the olive oil, until the prosciutto begins to sizzle. Turn once and continue cooking, no more than 5 minutes total.
Meanwhile, sauté spinach in a large skillet with a little of the oil, just until wilted. Add the cream, season to taste with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. To serve, make a bed of creamed spinach on each of two warmed dinner plates. Slide the scallop packet off the skewers and arrange them on the spinach.
Nutritional Analysis: 339 calories, FAT 16 g, PROTEIN 40 g, CARB 11 g, FIBER 5 g, CHOL 88 mg, IRON 6 mg, SODIUM 696 mg, CALC 228 mg
Cooking Lesson
How to tell if charcoal is hot enough: When the charcoal is mostly coated with white ash, hold your hand a couple of inches above the grill and begin counting: “one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three,” and so on. If you can only hold your hand for the 1,001 count, the fire is very hot. Up to 1,003 is medium-hot, and up to 1,005 is medium. If you can count any longer, your grill is not hot enough to cook.
Menu Suggestion
Finish this dinner with one of the newly available sugar-free desserts in the frozen desserts section of the supermarket—ice cream, Popsicles, cheesecakes—look for them. America’s manufacturers are beginning to get it. We want dessert, but we don’t want killer carbs.
Divers’ Scallops and Leeks in a Bed of Ginger Cream
Nothing seems more luxurious than huge, tender scallops swimming in a spicy cream with pale, limp leeks adding their sweet note. Who would ever call this diet food?
MAKES 2 SERVINGS
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
12 ounces large sea scallops
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 medium leeks, quartered, cleaned, and all but 1 inch of green trimmed
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 teaspoon dry vermouth
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
½ teaspoon freshly milled black pepper
Salt to taste
Pat the scallops with a paper towel. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat, then film the bottom with butter. Add scallops and cook without moving until golden on the edges, turning only once, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to two warmed dinner plates and cover.
Add the leek and shallots, vermouth, ginger, heavy cream, and chicken broth to the skillet. Cook and stir until the mixture is thick, about 3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Arrange the leeks beside the scallops on each plate and pour the sauce over all.
Nutritional Analysis: 298 calories, FAT 13 g, PROTEIN 31 g CARB 12 g, FIBER 1 g, CHOL 92 mg, IRON 2 mg, SODIUM 839 mg, CALC 82 mg
Cooking Lesson
What are divers’ scallops? The best-quality hand-harvested scallops that come to only the best fish markets and restaurants. You can spot them because they’re extra-large, and are not sitting in a tub of milky liquid. What does this mean? No preservative has been sprayed on them. Properly cooked scallops should be golden brown on the outside and fork tender. Leave them in the pan too long and they get dry and rubbery. Take care not to overcook them. If you paid top dollar for hand-harvested divers’ scallops, you don’t want to ruin them with careless handling.
Crabmeat Florentine with a Swiss Cheese Sauce