Muscat Shrimp and Scallops
This recipe produces the most wonderful sauce and goes so well with a crisp white wine like our 2007 Chardonnay that we had to pass this along. For those of you who are WOW Road Trippers, you may experience this on one of the Road Trips one day!
Ingredients- 1 pound of peeled, deveined shrimp
- 1/2 pound of small bay scallops
- 2 - 3 tablespoons of finely minced garlic
- 1 - 2 tablespoons of chopped green onion tops
- 1 - 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
- 1/2 - 3/4 stick of butter
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup of 2005 Rising Star Muscat Blanc
- 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
- small bay leaf
- salt (pinch) to taste
- creole seasoning blend (to taste)
To get started, open a bottle of Rising Star Muscat and cut a little wedge of white cheddar cheese to nibble with a glass while you cook. While this is not critical to the success of this recipe, you'll enjoy the experience immenseley!
If you want to serve this over rice, whether it's risotto, dirty rice or just plain white rice, you'll want to start this first. This is so good, it doesn't need anything but a nice green salad (with maybe a greek salad dressing with feta cheese?) and a loaf of hot-from-the-bakery french bread.
Rinse the shrimp and scallops and while their draining, melt a generous dollop of butter and saute the minced garlic over medium high heat. When the garlic starts to soften, add the chopped green onion tops and crushed red pepper and saute a little longer. Sip some more wine.
Add the shrimp and scallops and saute until they start to change color. Add a little more butter if necesary to coat everything well, sprinkle on the creole seasoning and add the Rising Star Muscat and the small bay leaf. Stir well, sniff deeply, sip, enjoy.
If you plan to serve this over risotto or rice, you should have already started that or it will never be ready in time. You need to be paying attention now to avoid overcooking the delicate shrimp and scallops. As soon as they begin to look done, turn off the heat, drain the liquid off into a saucepan or small skillet. Turn up the heat under the sauce and reduce it by half, stirring to avoid burning the butter. While stirring, add the cilantro. When the sauce is where you want it, remove the bay leaf and pour it back over the shrimp and scallops. Stir to coat the seafood with the sauce and keep warm until you can serve it.
Open that 2007 Chardonnay and pour a generous glassful, dish up some salad, spoon up some shrimp and scallops and tear off a chunk of bread. The Muscat adds a sweet backbone to the sauce that makes you want to just soak it up in the bread - go ahead! Delicioso!