Wednesday, January 22, 2014

WW: Velvet Orange Scallops | A Birthday Celebration

Wok Wednesdays wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young



I made this stir-fry for Andy's birthday dinner, a few days before the new recipe schedule was up. Much to my surprise it was picked for our second recipe in January. This puts me ahead of the game - and that is always a good thing.

Scallops. I can take 'em or leave 'em - Andy, he loves scallops.

This is the first time I used the velveting technique (marinating the scallops in a mixture of egg white, cornstarch, rice wine, and salt, then a quick poaching in oil laced water) for seafood. I have only used it for chicken recipes. At first I was not sure if it would make much of a difference, being scallops are so succulent on their own, but after one taste, I found they were even more tender than the ones I have made in the past.

Andy liked the scallops, but not the orange flavor from the zest, which seemed to be most concentrated in the carrots - those were left on his plate (my orange was really large, maybe I should have used less zest - I love citrus - more the merrier I thought). Me, I loved the carrots - I finished off his share. Our daughter seemed to enjoy this as well, for her plate was clean.

 
 Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Oil
Bowl 2: Garlic, ginger
Bowl 3: Carrots
Bowl 4: Scallops marinating in egg white, cornstarch, dry sherry, salt
Bowl 5: Broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, orange zest, red pepper flakes, dry sherry
Bowl 6: Salt (Oops! the salt should be #4 - added after the carrots.)
Bowl 7: Scallions


Since this was a birthday celebration, I just took a quick picture - nothing fancy. Didn't want to keep the birthday boy waiting!

While I was wokking away, our lovely daughter made the cinnamon rolls (another favorite of Andy's) for our next day's breakfast.

The cinnamon rolls had an overnight stay in the refrigerator - this makes for quick bakery goodness in the morning.

(source)

No picture of the finished cinnamon rolls - completely forgot - our minds were on getting to the airport on time. I can attest that they were delicious! It is an Emily Luchetti recipe after all.



We are asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 157 of Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed. 

 
Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like information about joining us, click here, or visit us on Facebook. Would love for you to wok along with us!




9 comments:

  1. That is so sweet. Your daughter is beautiful Cathy.

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  2. What a lovely dinner for a birthday celebration and it looks like your daughter did a killer job with the cinnamon rolls!

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  3. It looks like your husband had a wonderful birthday dinner. Your daughter is quite proficient in the kitchen…amazing cinnamon rolls and beautiful daughter!

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    1. Thanks Kathy! She is becoming quite the cook. I love watching her in the kitchen. :)

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  4. Cathleen, you already know that I like your "Wok posts", everything always looks delicious and I really like the sound and look of this recipe - I love scallops alas we can never get the really big ones around here, so I do not prepare them as often as I would like. Your daughter is beautiful and how very nice that she also prepared cinnamon rolls for breakfast! Sounds like you all had a nice birthday celebration!
    Thank you also for all your well-wishes, I really appreciated them!
    Have a nice weekend!

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    1. Thank you Andrea, we did! It is always a joy to have our daughter home. It's amazing that scallops could be anymore succulent than they already are. The velveting technique is incredible. I really am enjoy this cooking group immensely. The meals have the most wonderful flavors. So nice to see you back. :)
      Have a nice weekend yourself!

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  5. Love scallops but so hard to find nice big good ones here. And those rolls look wonderful

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