Shrimp, scallop and okra gumbo

This really is dinner in a flash - and it’s totally healthy, too. Did I need to tell you that it’s also really good? Oh, come on now. You’re reading my blog. You should already take that as a given.

If you read the previous post about buying okra - gumbo in the language of Natacha’s West Africa - then you should know that I was going to cook it tonight.

Since I had frozen shrimp and scallops in the freezer, that was a no brainer. Bake a couple sweet potatoes to go with it - and some FuFu (cassava paste) if you’re of the total West African persuasion, and dinner is served.

We’re light eaters around here, or I would have made a big salad to go with it.

Most everything West African seems to start out in a marinade of minced onion, garlic, ginger, Bay seasoning and cooking oil. And, that’s the way I marinated the shrimp and scallops, with the pierced habenero chile.

While that’s marinating, I assembled the other ingredients as my dutch oven pot was heating.

The other ingredients are the okra, which I sliced after removing the tips and tails, chopped onion, chopped red bell pepper, bacon and a can of diced tomatoes.

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Grilled bay scallops with greens and ravioli

This is really much simpler than it might look and packs a real punch with flavor. Mr. Maven loves the little tiny scallops, so when I saw them on special today I bought a pound - which easily fed the three of us, when combined with some packaged ravioli and a small bunch of wild dandelion greens. Talk about yum, this is it.

I put the scallops into a flavorful marinade of finely minced onion, garlic, olive oil and Old Bay Seasoning. After mixing them with the marinade, I put them into a small mesh strainer over a small plate in the refrigerator until I was ready to broil them.

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Ming Tsai sears sea scallops

This is so easy, and a really impressive dish either as an appetizer or light main course. The sea scallops are often available at Costco either frozen or fresh packaged.

As Ming says, you’ve got to use a hot pan and dry scallops.

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