Okay, I know that the gap in between these blogs have started to increase again... Hey, I'm doing my best to keep up... Anyway, I got home around 11:00 that Sunday and knew that I had a lot of things to do so I didn't want to waste any time. In my head, I started organinzing the items that I was going to prepare that day and I seemed very clear that I had to start with the one that took the longest to cook, followed by the next longest, and so on. The menus that I hoped to get through were as follows:

1. Osso Buco Style Oxtail Stew with white rice
2. Roasted Tri-Tip with au jus
3. Rosemary Sea Bass with Old World Pilaf and Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas with Mandarin
4. Shrimp and Scallop Lemon Scampi

I figured this would give Didi and I ample lunch and dinner choices for the week.

I'll skip the explanation of preparing the Oxtail Stew since I've given you the recipe back on June 6th. If you want to refer to it, you can look through the archived posts. Although I used some of homemade my beef stock instead of chicken stock since that's what's still on the stove simmering. Speaking of which, it was time for the stock to come out of the heat, cooled and stored in the refrigerator for later use.

After taking care of the stock, I filled up a pot with water and added Kosher salt to boil for my pasta. For pasta, you always want the water to taste as salty as sea water so the amount of salt you add will be determined by the amount of water you have in your pot. While waiting for the water to boil, I started working on the Tri-Tip.

Although it had a large section of fat (also known as fat cap), I kept it in tact to add more flavor to the meat. The very first thing to do was to marinade the meat so I took out my Food Saver marinating container and placed this huge hunk of beef in it (Blam!!!); sprinkled some Kosher salt (to season and to open up the pores) on all sides of the beef; then prepared the marinate.

I kept the marinate fairly simple - 1 cup of beef stock, 1 cup of red wine (I used Merlot), two tablespoons of Worscherster, 2 crushed cloves of garlic, a healthy pinch of ground black pepper, and for that extra "hey, there's an interesting flavor in it that I just can't put my finger on...", 1 tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar. I poured this mixture over the beef and closed the lid. I plugged in the small hose in the opening of the lid and plugged the other end of the hose to my Food Saver machine (model V2840) to suck the air out and pressurize the container. This pressurization method helps marinate the beef quicker because it helps open the pores of the meat so that the marinate can soak through to the middle. What would normally take a couple of hours was reduced to about 30 minutes.

Okay, got the Tri-Tip marinating in the fridge... On to the Shrimp and Scallop Lemon Scampi!

I added a whole package of fetuccini in the boiling water and stirred it to prevent it from sticking to each other. I took out some frozen shrimp from the freezer and set them in cold water to thaw. I get the bags of raw frozen shrimp (you guessed it...) with shell on. Thawing frozen shrimp takes about a couple of minutes to thaw in cold water so I started cutting the vegetables (1/2 cup of julienned carrots, 1/2 cup of julienned zucchini, 1/2 cup julienned onions, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and removed the stem side tips from the snow peas) immediately. After the vegetables, I de-shelled the shrimp leaving the last section of the shell and the tail in-tact. I placed the de-shelled shrimp immediately in the refrigerator and placed the shells in a quart size freezer bag, and placed it in the freezer for future shrimp stock use.

Originally, this recipe only consisted of shrimp, vegetables, and fetuccini; however Didi bought some fresh scallops from Costco the day before so I thought it would be nice to incorporate some for this dish.

The cooking process for the Shrimp and Scallop Lemon Scampi started with heating up 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter (unsalted) in large skillet. Once heated, I added the scallops making sure not to overcrowd them. The sound of sizzle needs to be heard once you put the first scallop in the pan (this means that the pan and oils are hot enough - if you don't hear the sizzle, take the scallop out immediately and wait for the pan to heat up more). Scallops don't take long to cook and the purpose here is to sear the top and bottom quickly. When seared properly, the scallops should have a golden color on both the top and bottom with uncooked middle. I set the seared scallops aside and placed the onions and carrots in the same pan to saute (I also added a pinch of Kosher salt in the pan to sweat the vegetables).

Next I tossed in the snow peas and zucchini - toss, toss; mix, mix... Then the minced garlic - toss, toss; mix, mix... Then I added the shrimp and scallops, a 1/2 cup of lemon juice (I used the one from the bottle since I forgot to get lemons), 3 tablespoons of butter, and healthy pinches of salt and ground pepper. Once the butter melted, I added about 12 ounces of the cooked fetuccini - toss, toss; mix, mix... Adjusted my seasoning with more salt and pepper to taste and immediately removed the pan from the heat. I distributed it amongst 4 small containers with lids, chopped and sprinkled fresh Italian parsley on top, cooled and placed in the refrigerator. One menu item down.... Note to self: Next time don't forget the fresh lemons and double up on the fetuccini.

Cleaned up - then took out the tri-tip to roast. As with all good roasts, the process starts with the browning of the meat so I heated up some olive oil in my 5 quart saute pan then threw in (gently... ) the meat. After about 2 - 3 minutes on one side, I flipped the meat over and waited another 2 - 3 minutes before pouring the marinate over the meat and placing the entire thing (pan and all) in a 300 degree oven (along with the stew). I didn't worry too much about how long to keep the meat in there as long as the internal temperature measures 125 degrees. Why 125 degrees?! Well I always account for residual cooking which happens during the resting time (the time between taking the meat out of the oven and cutting into it). Letting the meat rest for 5 minutes and tented (slightly covered; not wrapped) with aluminum foil generates enough heat to continue cooking the inside of the meat up to another 10 degrees. "Oh, My God!"

So while the tri-tip was resting, I started on the grains and vegetables.

How to cook white rice the no muss - no fuss method:

1. I poured some white rice in a small sauce pan. Yes you can cook other things in this pan other than sauce!
2. I went to the sink and filled the pan with water just to cover the rice.
3. I swirled the rice and water with my right hand. Why the right hand? Because I was holding the handle of the pan with my left hand...
4. Strained the water out.
5. Repeated steps 2 through 4 one more time. Just to make sure that I got rid of as much starch as I can.
6. Leveled the rice.
7. Filled the pan with enough water so that when I touch the rice with my middle finger, the water comes up to the first joint of the finger. I don't know why this is but it always comes up with the right amount of water for white rice.
8. Added a pinch of salt to the rice and water, and swirled.
9. Placed the pan on the stove (uncovered).
10. Turned the burner on to high.
11. As soon as the water started boiling I turned the burner off.
12. Covered the pan.
13. Placed in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Wait, I couldn't put the rice in the oven because I've got it set for 300 degrees for the Oxtail stew. I had to adjust the time to take it out.
14. After 30 minutes, I took the pan out of the oven and let it sit on top of the stove with the heat off. (Kept the lid on and took advantage of residual cooking, he he).
15. After 10 minutes, I uncovered the pan and fluffed the rice with a fork.

White rice done! Next is the Old World Pilaf... This pilaf of course has a similar process as with the golden pilaf that I prepared the night before. This is another rice mixture that I got from Whole Foods which really turned out rather well.

Both grains are done! Now for the Rosemary Sea Bass... I cut a small sprig of rosemary from my plant outside, washed it quickly, removed the leaves from the branch and chopped them (the leaves, not the branch). Then I laid the sea bass on a plate and seasoned both sides with Kosher salt and ground black pepper. I spread some olive oil onto a baking sheet and placed the sea bass on this making sure that they have plenty of room between them. Then I divided the chopped rosemary leaves between the sea bass, sprikling them on top of each. Then I placed the baking sheet in the oven along with the stew and tri-tip.

Now for the sauteed sugar snap peas and mandarin...

I heated some olive oil in my medium sized skillet and dropped in my sugar snap peas; sprikled a pinch of Kosher salt and ground black pepper; toss, toss; mix, mix... Careful, don't burn the peas! Zest the mandarin onto the peas then quickly peel and separate the mandarin; toss them into the pan; toss, toss; mix, mix... Adjust the seasoning and turn the burner off. Add some fresh thyme leaves, and "Voila!"

I took the sea bass out of the oven (perfect!), scooped some Old World Pilaf into containers, divided the Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas and Mandarin to each container, and laid a sea bass on top of the pilaf of each container. Another menu item completed and cooled...

By then, it was time to take the stew out of the oven. I set the pot on the stove and uncovered it to released the fragrance of the stew. I let the stew cook an hour longer than usual and it really made a difference to the meat. I really liked the outcome of the longer cooking time - the meat was softer and yet still held on to the bone. I adjusted the seasoning with Kosher salt and pepper, then divided it amongst 4 more of our plastic containers, along with the white rice. Three menu items done!

I finished cooking the tri-tip to 125 degrees, took it out of the oven and tented it with aluminum foil for 5 - 10 minutes on top of the stove while I cleaned up the mess that I had created. After I was done with washing the dishes in the sink and wiping down counters, I cooled the tri-tip, transferred it to a large plastic container, and placed it in the refrigerator to be sliced within the next couple of days.

I was exhausted! Yet, I was exhilirated that I completed enough meals for Didi and I to get through the week. After cleaning up the last items in the sink, it was around 7:00 p.m.

I took our two dogs out for their long awaited playtime. Ilsa, the brown one, loves to play catch with her red ball while Aria, the black one, is just a cuddler and keeps to my side as she looks up at me with her deep dark eyes. It was really a nice way to relax and end the day.