Gratuitous Domestic Posting - Cooking Division

We had some friends from Church over for dinner last night. They are really nice folks with daughters approximately the same age as ours, so everyone had a very good time.

As we sat down to dinner, one of the first things Mrs. Friend said to me was that she had visited the Butcher's Shop and enjoyed my little essays on domestic life. Such praise, and from such a source, was so unexpected and pleasing to me that she could have asked me for anything there and then and I probably would have given it to her. Fortunately for her (and whoever else likes them), I have now (I think) created a category reserved for this kind of post, named (originally enough) "Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM)". Thank you the Gods of Movable Type for this new feature.

Well. What I really wanted to mention in this post that I decided I was going to cook for us all last night. I enjoy cooking, although I don't get to do it very often. For this occassion, I pulled out my copy of "Cooking With Pops", a collection of Italian recipes put together by my father, and went to one of my favorite (and very easy) dishes: Shrimp, Scallops and Proscuitto with Pasta.

Here's what you need:

12 sea scallops
18 shrimp, pealed
Dry Sherry (about 6 tbs.)
2 whole shallots, finely minced
basil (to taste)
1/4 lb. proscuitto cut into thin, 1 inch strips
5 cloves garlic, finely minced
juice of 1 lemon
thyme (to taste)
12 oz. Half & Half or cream
1 cup grated parmagiano cheese
pasta (angel hair or linguini fini)

Here's what you do:

Saute the shrimp and scallops in olive oil on medium heat. When firm, add proscuitto, shallots, garlic and herbs and increase heat. Add the sherry, lemon juice and cream. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Add the cheese. Put the pasta (that you've been cooking in the meantime) into the serving bowl and then mix in the sauce.

The portions in this recipe feed four, so adjust accordingly for more or fewer people.

Friends, this is a seriously delicious dish. Tell all those Adkins Acolytes to go to hell and give it a try some time. I think you won't regret it.

Yip! Yip! Yip!