Quick and Awesome!

I love cooking for people! I love cooking for myself but it is never as rewarding as when I cook and serve other people.  If I am lucky enough I'll get a chance to cook for you too!  For those of you who know me Thanksgiving can be my favorite days of the year because I turn it into a cooking THUNDERDOME!

So onto Quick and Awesome! One of my favorite things to make during the week is a stir-fry.  Stir-fries are great because they can be done in a variety of ways, they are quick, delicious and AWESOME.

The other night I had my dad in town and he was feeling seafood so we ventured over to Whole Foods and found some amazing bay scallops and key west shrimp.  Soon as we got home I had the meal together in 20 minutes and this is how.

Ingredients:

1/2-3/4 lb shrimp (deveined and cleaned)
1/2-3/4 lb bay scallops 
1/2 a sliced red cabbage
1 zucchini - 8-10 inch halved and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 yellow summer squash - 8-10 inch halved and sliced into 1/4 inch slices

1 14oz Box of thin pad Thai noodles (Thai Kitchen makes a good noodle)
1/4 C Dean and Deluca Asian seasoning (it is a mix of pepper powder, garlic powder, ground coriander, sweet basil, ground ginger and more. Any Asian mix of seasoning will work, just make sure you taste it for it's salt content.  If it's heavy in salt be careful how you salt your seafood or other protein you may use.
3 T Soy Sauce
2 T Butter
2 T Hoisin
Zest of 1 Lemon
Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste


First! Get a two quart pot out fill Get your pans out and get two pans up on medium high, these will be for your scallops and shrimp.  Use the directions on the packaging of noodles and start those. Wash all seafood thoroughly! After rinsing the scallops and shrimp soaking any mussel (shellfish) and shrimp really helps get all of the sand out.  Salt and pepper the seafood on both sides. Sear the scallops and shrimp in a medium high pan that has been lightly coated in Veg Oil.  The seafood should sizzle strongly the minute it hits the pan.  Each side (and there are only TWO) should only take about 1 minute per side.  Make sure when placing the seafood in the pan not to over crowd it.

Once the meat is in the pan toss all of your veggies in a medium high wok.  Season veggies with Asian seasoning and toss with hoisin and soy sauce until everything is well coated.  This should only take a second so make sure not to forget to flip your seafood. Add two table spoons of unsalted butter to the pan with scallops and coat all of the scallops and remove from the pan. Once your seafood is cooked remove it from the pan to a plate, drizzle with lemon juice and place to the side.

The noodles should be done by now and you want to strain those and toss them with the sesame seed oil.  Then toss the noodles into the wok with the veggies and thoroughly mix.  Now the next step is a personal choice.  When I cook seafood and then mix it into a noddle veggie mix I don't like to toss the seafood with everything.  I want to make sure everyone gets the same amount of seafood; so I first plate a softball sized portion of the noddle veggie mix onto a plate/bowl and then I put an equal portion of the seafood on top.  I then mix everything by hand to not damage the seafood. Top with lemon zest and enjoy!

Stir-fries are quick and can be done in a variety of ways which is awesome and gives you not only a delicious meal but also a healthy one too!