French Fridays with Dorie: Scallops and chorizo with linguine

(aka: (Not) mussels and chorizo)

It’s a quick French Fridays with Dorie post this week.  Many of you know that I was quite ill last weekend and I am still only eating very plain food.  So the thought of Mussels and Chorizo (page 316) didn’t exactly thrill me. In fact, it didn’t really thrill me before I got sick – I am not a mussels-eater (oh the irony for the person who lived in Belgium for a year. Trying to explain to everyone that no thank you, I really wouldn’t care for the famous “moules-frites”) so I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do for this one. In the end, Mr Neil ended up making the chorizo-tomato sauce and we pan fried some Atlantic scallops that we already had in the freezer. Needless to say, grocery shopping hasn’t exactly been high on my priority list this week so what he had on hand had to do.

Mr Neil scored a nice dinner out of this – the meaty scallops playing nicely off the smokey chorizo and slight sweetness of the tomato sauce.  I can’t wait to feel better again so I can try this myself – the fact that it smelled good to me is a great sign!  It’s one of those dinners that is simple yet elegant – and oh so easy to prepare.  You can have this on the table in less than 30 minutes, though the sauce is one of those that benefits from overnight in the fridge, allowing the flavours to really develop.

Want to join us cooking through Dorie’s “Around my French Table” in 2012? Join French Fridays with Dorie here.

French Fridays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs, rather, we prefer if you purchase Around My French Table for yourselves (trust me, you definitely want this book!) which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository.  Go on, treat yourself and join us this year!

Speaking of FRENCH, did you see my latest article for Food Network Canada – all about cooking classes in Paris!  Read right through to the end for a hint of what I have up my sleeve this summer!!!

51 thoughts on “French Fridays with Dorie: Scallops and chorizo with linguine”

  1. Having done it whilst Mardi sat at the table, I can attest to the 30-minute claim.

    I haven’t had the moules version to compare, but I actually think I may prefer the scallops version? The meatiness of the scallops provided a nice symmetry to the meaty chorizo essence.

    We let the sauce simmer for a good 30+ minutes more, and it really helped. At first, you think “ah, maybe a touch bland”…but give it time for the slow simmer to bring out the smokiness of the chorizo.

    Walking through the door the next night, and being greeted by this, was indeed a “score”. 🙂

    I was dashing out for a charity night (ahem, in a pub…) so did not actually pair with anything, save a small glass of IGT passimento from Veneto that I had opened the night before. It actually worked fairly well.

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  2. Hope you are continuing to recover 🙁
    Glad to hear the scallops worked as a substitution. It seemed as if the tomato-chorizo (Sausage) sauce would pair well with any number of aquatic species.
    Have a great weekend.

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  3. This dish is evidence that a well stocked pantry and freezer is worth maintaining! If you were able to enjoy the smells, you are definitely on the mend. 🙂

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  4. I wanted to do scallops too, but decided to overcome my fear of cooking mussels and I’m so glad I did. After seeing what Mr. Neil did, scallops is defintely on my must-try list for this recipe! I do hope you are feeling much better, just try to get plenty of rest so you can cook along again with us next week :).

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  5. How sweet of Mr. Neil to step as chef for you on this FFWD. I’m sorry that you have been so ill and hoping that you are feeling much better soon. Always nice to have someone to take care of you and cook for you even when you don’t have much of an appetite. Enjoy this when you feel better.

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  6. So sorry to hear that you were ill. I agree that a spicy seafood dish is the last thing I would want to eat if I were not feeling well. How sweet of Mr. Neil to step in for you. I have tried a Nigella Lawson recipe which calls for chorizo and scallops and I agree that the two flavors work very well together.

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  7. I think this would be good paired with all sorts of seafood for a quick pasta dish – there are a few variations I have in mind for when we make this again!

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  8. Such a lovely dish…seems I’ve been seeing your pictures more around the web (pinterest, twitter) recently, congrats!

    Taking a cooking class is on my bucket list 🙂

    Hope you are feeling much better soon!

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  9. I just had the book from the library and there was not many recipes that I was interested in trying but after looking all your reviews I may give it a second chance. Thanks for the review.

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  10. I really miss FFwD, but I just couldn’t keep up as many of the ingredients just aren’t available here. It still is a great cook book though, and your photos of this have me thinking I should pull it out today. Hope you have a great week!

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  11. Hope you’ll feeling much better by now Mardi! And of course what a wonderful solution to have Mr Neil cooked for you this week’s dish. The scallops looked like they had a nice sear. Great work. Compliments to the cook!

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  12. Looks great, never would have considered scallops, just can’t seem to be able to taste them,
    however, your dish looks fantastic. Hope you are feeling better now.

    Reply

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