Monday's Mix

Saw this awesome red-handled egg beater and mixer online today. As we gear up for this weekend's Food + Wine Festival, I can't help thinking how fun it would be, if chefs were operating on that kind of level: unplugged. Nico will be participating in a number of events, including the Chef's Competition. And, our Pastry Goddess Susie Ieronemo, will be dishing up deliciousness at Bubbles & Sweets.

Sunday evening, Nico and the Fish team cooked their little hearts out for The Chef's Feast for the Lowcountry Food Bank. Let's just say they prepared food for 900 guests. Crazy.

And a word on other human appetites. While reading Mark Bittman's food blog, Bitten, he mentioned this.

As a special Monday bonus, I'm including one of Nico's recipes featured at his Charleston Cooks! gig last week. Enjoy.

PAN SEARED SCALLOPS

Ingredients:
4 scallops per person
Oil and butter

Pineapple Salsa
½ pineapple. diced
½ bunch of cilantro
½ red onion
1 red pepper, diced
½ jalapeño pepper, diced
Lime juice
Lime zest
Sweet chili sauce

Sauce:
Sweet soy sauce
Shallots
Pickled ginger
Sweet chili sauce

Marinated Crimini Mushrooms:
Soy Sauce
Honey
Mirin (condiment used in Japanese cuisine. It is a kind of rice wine, similar to sake but with a lower alcohol content)
Rice wine vinegar
Lemon zest
Garlic

Coconut Rice:
4 oz. Jasmine rice per person
2 oz. coconut milk
2 oz. green peas

Prepare crimini mushrooms and set aside to marinate. Pan sear the scallops in a sauté pan with olive oil and butter. Cook the rice with coconut milk and last with the green peas and marinated mushrooms. On plate, make a bed of rice, green peas and mushrooms on plate. Top with pan seared scallops. Spoon pineapple salsa over scallops and serve.