We’re a little over 2 weeks into Lent now…
I’ve been eating out a lot this week. That can sometimes prove to be challenging for me on a regular day… do I need to tell you that this much holds even truer during Lent?
People around me keep teasing me and telling me that I’m just “nuts” and they feel I am torturing myself in vain. They think that I must be some kind of a masochist, or something…
Well, that’s not the way it is at all!
You see, instead of looking at what I can’t have, I prefer to look at what I can still enjoy.
And there is LOTS of that!
For instance, for lunch this week, I’ve been enjoying the follwing dishes: (not all on the same day, obviously… I did say that I got to eat out A LOT, didn’t I?)
First, a small plate of smoked salmon, served on a bed of Boston lettuce with capers, half an avocado and a few slices of cooked beets.
Then, I had a grilled vegetable salad, that included a nice mix of greens, topped with kalamata olives, goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, grilled bell peppers, courgettes and aubergines. Lovely!
The following day, I chose to have a beautiful piece of rare ahi tuna steak, with a side of steamed vegetables including carrots, broccoli, green beans and white potatoes which I chose not to eat because I was feeling particularly tired that day and felt they wouldn’t have done me any good… Oh, and of course, I didn’t touch that dressing either. Hey, grains could’ve been hiding in there, you know! 
Today, I had this gorgeous piece of grilled salmon, served with grilled vegetables, namely carrots, asparagus, broccoli, courgettes and bell peppers.
All delicious meals, which didn’t leave me feeling deprived in the least!
The only real temptation, I would say, came from this plate of sweet potato french fries that one of my coworkers was having. They were calling my name really, really loud, but I just ignored them and they eventually got tired of yelling at the top of their lungs in vain…
As for dinner, well, I revisited some of my “old” recipes, namely this incredibly satisfying Pumpkin Coconut Chowder with Shrimp, and this Haricots Verts, Green Olives and Goat Cheese Salad.
I also made this new, absolutely decadent, light scallop dish.
All there is to it is some lovely pan seared sea scallops sitting on a comfy cushion of grapefruit supremes, accompanied by a few sprigs of watercress and crowned with a spoonful of Balsamic Vinegar Pearls. Oh and of course, all of that has been generously dampened with a tangy grapefruit Dijon vinaigrette.
Super simple, yet super tasty and really, really satisfying!
Hey, who said Lent had to be about sacrifices?
With all that food that I’ve been enjoying? I think I’ve come to see it as a time of sinful indulgence… Alright, maybe not that much, but I can guarantee you that I definitely do not feel deprived.
Oh, and if you follow me on facebook, you’ve probably already seen that this week-end, I am planning on having one or six of these babies… lentified, of course! !
I certainly hope I succeed at the challenge! If I do, we all win! 
Wish me us luck, guys!
SEARED SCALLOP WITH GRAPEFRUIT SUPREMES, WATERCRESS AND BALSAMIC PEARLS
INGREDIENTS
(Serves 1)
- 3 large sea scallops
- 1 pink grapefruit
- a few sprigs of watercress
- 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar Pearls
- Juice from your grapefruit
- ½ tsp ginger, chopped
- 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/8 tsp guar gum
- Working over a bowl so that you don’t let any of the juice go to waste, arrange your pink grapefruits into supremes. Once all the supremes are out, squeeze all the remaining juice out of what’s left of your grapefruits.
- Add the rest of the ingredients for the dressing and whisk until smooth and starts to thicken. Set aside
- Arrange your supremes in a nice round “cushion” in the middle of a small plate
- Heat about a teaspoon of olive oil in a frying pan until the pan is really nice and hot. Add the scallops (make sure you pat them dry before you put them in the pan, else, they will boil in) and sear them for about 1 minute on each side. Make sure the scallops don’t touch each other, for that would also prevent them from forming that nice brown crust.
- Arrange the scallops around the grapefruit supreme.
- Garnish with watercress sprigs and Balsamic Vinegar Pearls and drizzle generously with vinaigrette.
I haven’t had scallops in for here. This pictures are so good my mouth is watering right now as I crave something to eat. Interesting addition of balsamic vinegar pearls and guar gum
I meant in for ever
. I am sleepy 
LOL, that’s alright! So am I! I totally got what you meant, though. Thank you so much for your nice comment. I’m truly flattered.
where did you purchase the little gadget to make the balsamic pearls. wouldn’t a baster work as well. Thanks and your recipe looks great!!!
I didn’t make the pearls myself yet… this is just a video that I found on YouTube. I am planning on making them very soon, though! It just looks like so much fun! As for using a baster, I think that it would be way too big. You need a really small opening in order to create tiny little beads…
Ah this looks so lovely – love the photos. Fish and grapefruit is something I’ve seen quite a lot but I’ve never tried, and like you I have a love of pairing fruit with savoury things, so it might have to be done…once I can bring myself to splash out on scallops!
Thanks Elly! Fish and citrus go extremely well together, it’s like a match made in heaven. I hope you do give it a try. It’s so fresh, so light! If you do give it a try, share your impressions!!!
Sonia I admire your commitment to your beliefs! And I don’t feel sorry for you in the slightest bit after seeing what you’ve been eating all week! This scallop dish makes me long for summertime! It’s just beautiful and thanks for the link to the balsamic pearls!!!
Thanks Mellissa. The support of others also make it a lot easier to get through this. I made it sound easy in this post, but you, I think, are in a very good position to know that it’s not always the case! I get major cravings sometimes, but finding ways to work around them is really helping me out a lot!
And you are so right, this scallop dish screams of freshness and summertime. Thanks for saying that it’s pretty!
Sonia:
Girl, you are a genius in your cooking.
Love scallops but not grapefruit. Have any suggestions for a substitute?
I must try this recipe, especially because I have some U10 scallops.
Charlie
Charlie: thank you so much!
Love scallop, but not grapefruit… hmmmm…. a little bit of super thinly sliced fennel, slightly wilted in a Pernod based vinaigrette? (woops, did I really recommend the use of Pernod here? I might have… but don’t tell anyone, alright? I happen to really like Pernod, or Pastis, with scallops!)
Or caramelized pears, maybe? With a little bit of an apple cider based vinaigrette?
Or… you could just send me your scallops, that way you won’t have to worry about it!
LOL Sonia:
You are really pushing the packet when you want me to give you my scallops.
Tell you what. Come for dinner and I will share them with you generously.
The pears sound good!
Can’t do the fennel ….. can’t stand anything that tastes like black licorice.
Would meyer lemons work? They are my new favourite thing. (Just made lemon curd with them and want to eat it by the spoonful! Recipe from “Food in Jars”)
Or maybe a clementime?
Charlie
Hey, can’t blame me for trying!
I don’t know about meyer lemons, to be honest, I’d never even heard of them before now. I say they have very good potential! I would definitely give them a try. Clementine would be good, but hard to supreme, and quite frankly, I really don’t care for the canned stuff… Just good ole oranges might also do the trick you know…
Now I definitely want to get my hands on some of those meyer lemons. I’m just super curious!
This dish is B-E-A-U-TIFUL! It could totally be printed in a fine dining magazine Sonia
You should be proud of your creative self – bravo my dear for another healthy winner!
OH THANK YOU SO MUCH NORA!!!! I am so incredibly flattered! Fine dining magazine, really? Wow. You’re just so sweet. Thanks a bunch, you just made my day!
You definitely don’t look deprived by the look of all these delicious meals! Mouth watering.
I’m never been overly fond of scallops but these pictures makes me want to give them another try!
BTW, have you watched the Bourdain special show on Ferran Adrià before he closed El Bulli? Molecular gastronomy is absolutely fascinating! It’s a form on art on its own! Endless possibilities: food is such a creative outlet. And I want to put my hands on those balsamic peals.
ps: check this out for almond pulp recipes blog I just found: http://almondpulp.com/ It might inspire you and we will all benefit
Oooooh, how cool is that! Thank you so much for the reference. I will definitely be checking it out, although I seem to be getting some pretty decent ideas on my own, so far… but inspiration is ALWAYS good!
Thanks a bunch for that, really! Say, did you read my comment about the hazelnut milk? You simply HAVE to try it! I made mine yesterday and I’m almost all out. I replied to your previous comment in the almond milk post. Check it out, if you haven’t!
Oh, and no, I haven’t watched Anthony’s show… when was that on? Sounds super interesting. I’ll try and look it up on the food network channel website. I might get lucky!
And thanks for liking my scallops even though you don’t really like them!
Sonia:
I had never heard of meyer lemons either, until about a month ago different blogs were raving about them.
I didn’t think I would ever see one living in Atlantic Canada, but I found them at Costco.
Apparently they have a short growing period.
I would encourage you to go today to see if you can find some!
I also salted some down.
Charlie
Sonia:
Me again!
About how much juice would I need?
I’m try to figure out the ratio between grapefruit and lemons.
Charlie
The grapefruit that I used yielded about a quarter of a cup of liquid. So anything around that amount and you should be fine! I so can’t wait to hear your impressions on the meyer lemons. Have you tasted them yet?
HI Sonia:
I made your scallops.
I got adventurous and did them two ways.
I made them with the meyer lemons.
They were very nice,
For those that don’t like the tartness too strong, I would recommend either the supremes or the sauce but not both. They were sweeter than plain lemons would have been.
Next time I’ll try them with clementines.
I think the clementines would marry well with the bite of the balsamic.
The second way I made them were with caramelized pears.
My Mama raved over them. But then she has an over the top sweet tooth.
I found them too sweet.
I will make them again.
Next time though I will leave out the caramelization and make a pear mousseline with calvadoes. I think sans sugar.
Over all though I think it a success.
It is just individual taste.
Great recipe.
Charlie
Thank you so much for all that Charlie! You sure went all out! So meyer lemons are still pretty tart, if I understand correctly. Maybe a mix of meyer lemons and oranges would work well! I really have to try and get my hands on some. I’ll be going to Costco on Friday, I’ll make sure to check and see if they have some in stock.
I really love your idea of a pear mousseline! With a little bit of nutmeg and cardamome, goat cheese and pistachios, I think it would work super well with the scallops. And I totally agree with the “sans sugar”, of course! Had you used sugar to caramelize your pears in the version that you made?
Anyway, super glad to hear that both your versions were a success!
Hi Sonia:
Yes, the meyers were still on the tart side, though not as tart as a regular lemon.
But I don’t know if they would be any more tart than a grapefruit.
Yes I did use sugar when caramelizing the pears. About a level tablespoon.
But, they were sweet.
Where scallops have such a tender taste, I don’t like to overpower them, just compliment.
If you do find the meyers, I really encourage you to make the meyer lemon curd from Foodinjars. Awesome!
Charlie
Linda: Anywhere you get kitchen gadgets you should be able to get what Sonia used for the balsamic pearls.
I got mine ages ago at one of our bulk food stores.
Charlie