Caramelized Leeks with Roasted Salmon Fillets

    

As a way to get our fish in (and using our Wegman's club pack of salmon), we made caramelized leeks with roasted salmon fillets.  It seemed like an easy weeknight meal and I was right.  All you have to do is caramelize the leeks and then cook the salmon and it's a snap!

Washing the leeks thoroughly are a MUST MUST MUST. Leeks are dirty, especially in between the layers, so look at the video here to see how to clean and prepare leeks.  This recipe also uses very few ingredients, so if you're the type of person who won't look at a recipe with more than 10 ingredients, then this is for you.  

You probably can't tell but we served this with cabbage and noodles. Which is either a Polish thing or just a thing my husbands' family makes.  We had leftover cabbage from another non-CL recipe (gasp! I know), so we made this on the side to use it up.  

We cooked the salmon in the toaster oven, so this recipe is friendly for those living in a small space.

As of today's post 7 people rated this a 5 out of 5. 

Recipe by Laura Zapalowski, Cooking Light, March 2008

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2  leeks
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  butter
• 1  teaspoon  light brown sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt, divided
• 1/2  teaspoon  fresh lemon juice
• 4  (6-ounce) salmon fillets
• Cooking spray
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Remove roots, outer leaves, and tops from leeks. Cut leeks in half lengthwise. Rinse thoroughly with cold water, and cut each half into 3-inch julienne strips.
3. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add leeks to pan; cook 4 minutes or until slightly wilted, stirring occasionally. Stir in brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 20 minutes or until edges are browned, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in juice. Keep warm.
4. Place salmon on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; sprinkle salmon with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon red pepper. Bake salmon at 400° for 8 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Place 1 fillet on each of 4 plates; top with 2 tablespoons leek mixture.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 320 (39% from fat)

Fat: 13.9g (sat 2.8g,mono 4.5g,poly 5.1g)

Protein: 39.2g

Carbohydrate: 7.6g

Fiber: 0.9g

Cholesterol: 111mg

Iron: 2.5mg

Sodium: 339mg

Calcium: 51mg

Walnut and Rosemary Oven-fried Chicken

A third recipe I've been dying to make.  Another disappointment? Thankfully, NO! 

This recipe was so easy; I love those dishes where you just set up a dipping station and dunk it in the liquid, dunk it in the coating and you're done.  The crunchiness of the toasted panko and walnut was really tasty.  We didn't have a metal rack to put on our baking sheet, so the coating got a little mushy on the bottom (the air can't circulate underneath this way). We were totally cool with it, but if you aren't, you can always just coat one side, or buy a metal rack for your baking sheet.

We followed the recipe exactly to plan. I would say next time this needs a little bit more rosemary--1 to 1 1/2 tsp depending on how much you like rosemary.

As you can see, we served ours with baked potatoes and steamed green beans that I tossed with garlic, onion flakes and chili powder.

As of today's post, 44 people gave this an average rating of 5 out of 5!!

Recipe by Laraine Perri, Cooking Light, June 2010

Total: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cutlet)

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  low-fat buttermilk
• 2  tablespoons  Dijon mustard
• 4  (6-ounce) chicken cutlets
• 1/3  cup  panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/3  cup  finely chopped walnuts
• 2  tablespoons  grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 3/4  teaspoon  minced fresh rosemary
• 1/4  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• Rosemary leaves (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Combine buttermilk and mustard in a shallow dish, stirring with a whisk. Add chicken to buttermilk mixture, turning to coat.
3. Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add panko to pan; cook 3 minutes or until golden, stirring frequently. Combine panko, nuts, and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a shallow dish. Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture; discard buttermilk mixture. Dredge chicken in panko mixture.
4. Arrange a wire rack on a large baking sheet; coat rack with cooking spray. Arrange chicken on rack; coat chicken with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 13 minutes or until chicken is done. Garnish with rosemary leaves, if desired.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 287

Fat: 9.4g (sat 1.6g,mono 1.6g,poly 5.1g)

Protein: 42.7g

Carbohydrate: 6g

Fiber: 0.9g

Cholesterol: 101mg

Iron: 1.6mg

Sodium: 379mg

Calcium: 66mg

Pumpkin Pie Shake

Two disappointments in one week, can it be???

YES.

I've been dying to make this recipe ever since I saw it on myrecipes.com.  Unfortunately, it was another bomb. I felt like I was just eating canned pumpkin, which doesn't taste very good to me.  It's true that I do not have the cool whip on top like they recommend in the recipe but, I don't think that would save this recipe. I can't believe how people have raved about it in the reviews. 

This is another one that I feel like I could tweak, but who has time for that (certainly not this girl). I'd rather spend my time making the eggnog recipe in this month's magazine (which we will make in December)! 

I'll let you decide for yourself. Maybe you really like this and i'm the only weirdo out there who doesn't. To each their own, right?

As of today's post, thirteen people gave this an average rating of 5 out of 5.  For some reason my 3 stars must not be factored into this rating. :)

Recipe by Vivian Levine, Cooking Light, January 2006

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2  cups  vanilla reduced-fat ice cream (such as Healthy Choice), softened
• 1  cup  fat-free milk
• 2/3  cup  canned pumpkin
• 1/4  cup  packed brown sugar
• 3/4  teaspoon  pumpkin-pie spice
• 3  tablespoons  frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
• Pumpkin-pie spice (optional)

Preparation

Combine first 5 ingredients in a blender; process until smooth. Pour 3/4 cup ice cream mixture into each of 4 glasses. Top each with about 2 teaspoons whipped topping; sprinkle with the additional pumpkin-pie spice, if desired.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 198 (13% from fat)

Fat: 2.8g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.6g,poly 0.1g)

Protein: 6.1g

Carbohydrate: 38g

Fiber: 1.4g

Cholesterol: 18mg

Iron: 1.3mg

Sodium: 180mg

Calcium: 157mg

 

Bananas Foster Bread

Who likes bananas coated in rum??? I DO! Cooking Light had so many good looking bread recipes in their last issue, if only we had time to make them all!  I decided to make the bananas foster bread after I ended up with two uneaten, black bananas.  This recipe came together so quickly! I made the rum/banana/sugar mixture while we were making dinner (I think it was the same night as the Salmon and caramelized leek night).  After dinner I threw it all together and baked it in the toaster oven.  The bread tasted more like regular banana bread, but it did have a hint of that bananas foster flavor.  The glaze for this also calls for rum, and quite frankly, tastes like a shot of sugary icing when you mix it together. This is boozy! I will say though that after one day with the glaze you couldn't even taste the booze anymore.  Which I think for me set the taste back a bit. I liked the combination of fresh glaze and bread; for me it really tasted like bananas foster.

This recipe calls for flaxseed. I got mine at trader joe's whole and ground it in the mini prep food processor.

This recipe is probably not recommended if you have little humans running around, I don't think they are supposed to have alcohol. Translation: you can make this, just don't feed it to your kids. :)

As of today's post, 17 people gave it an average rating of 5 out of 5! 

Recipe by Maureen Callahan, Cooking Light, October 2010

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  cups  mashed ripe banana
• 1  cup  packed brown sugar, divided
• 6  tablespoons  butter, melted and divided
• 1/4  cup  cognac or dark rum, divided
• 1/3  cup  plain fat-free yogurt
• 2  large eggs
• 6.75  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4  cup  ground flaxseed
• 3/4  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground allspice
• Cooking spray
• 1/3  cup  powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine banana, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 5 tablespoons butter, and 3 tablespoons cognac in a nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat; cool. Place banana mixture in a large bowl. Add yogurt, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, and eggs. Beat with a mixer at medium speed.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; place on wire rack.
4. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter, remaining 1 tablespoon cognac, and powdered sugar; stir until well blended. Drizzle over the warm bread.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 194

Fat: 5.8g (sat 3g,mono 1.5g,poly 0.9g)

Protein: 2.9g

Carbohydrate: 31.1g

Fiber: 1.5g

Cholesterol: 34mg

Iron: 1.1mg

Sodium: 181mg

Calcium: 32mg

Apple-parsnip Soup

It's the soup of the week! It certainly feels like we're making a lot of soup lately; unfortunately this was another disappointment.  This is the apple parsnip soup in last month's issue of Cooking Light.  It seems like every cooking light apple soup recipe calls for curry powder which I don't understand. So we decided to skip the curry powder and add more nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger to this.  This also had way too much cardamom--all I could taste was cardamom. It seems like any recipe that calls for cardamom needs at least 2 days to marinate so the cardamom blends in better.

So, sorry to say, we will not be making this again. I had such high hopes for this, but they were not met. The search for good soups continue.  If you're planning to make this, I would say creme fraiche (or in our case, sour cream) is definitely needed as a garnish.

As of today's post, 6 people gave this an average rating of four out of 5.  I would give it a 2.  It could probably be better with some work, but I'd rather find a good soup recipe that doesn't need me to put my hard work into it.  I'm sure you could sub vegetable broth for chicken broth if you're a concerned vegetarian/vegan. 

Recipe by Kathy Ferrell-Kingsley, Cooking Light, October 2010

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons  olive oil
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 2 1/2  cups  chopped peeled Pink Lady apple (about 1 pound)
• 1  tablespoon  curry powder
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1  teaspoon  ground cardamom
• 1  garlic clove, chopped
• 3 1/2  cups  chopped peeled parsnip (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 4  cups  fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
• 1  cup  apple cider
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 8  teaspoons  crème fraîche

Preparation

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add apple and the next 4 ingredients (through garlic); cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add parsnip, chicken broth, and apple cider; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until parsnip is tender.
2. Place half of parsnip mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat the procedure with remaining parsnip mixture. Stir in salt and pepper. Ladle about 3/4 cup soup into each of 8 bowls; top each serving with 1 teaspoon crème fraîche.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 136

Fat: 5.6g (sat 1.6g,mono 2.6g,poly 0.6g)

Protein: 1.8g

Carbohydrate: 21.2g

Fiber: 4.2g

Cholesterol: 5mg

Iron: 0.7mg

Sodium: 381mg

Calcium: 30mg

Apricot Pork Chops AND Butternut Squash Gratin with Blue Cheese and Sage

This is one of the easiest recipes you will ever make (and maybe one of the cheapest too)!  All we have to do for this recipe is buy pork chops and (depending on our fridge stock) some green onions.  Great for those who need weeknight meals fast, this is super easy and super delicious.  Now I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that this makes a MESS in your pan and it's not too pretty in the picture (who wants to eat that black looking pork thing) but the pan comes clean and that's just the soy sauce making it tasty. :)

While this is probably better with steamed veggies and rice (it has an Asian influence), we tend to make this at the same time we make Butternut Squash, Blue cheese and sage gratin. It's not planned and I don't know why, but we always plan to make these together. 

For the pork chops, 17 people gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5. It's definitely a 5 people.

Now as far as the Butternut Squash gratin goes, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE this recipe. It's such a great way to get some of those fall veggies in and the flavor combination is so awesome.  I would eat this everyday if I could. Talk about healthy comfort food.

We do make some changes to this recipe.  Adding more onions and sage is a must.  I would also recommend you steam the squash until it's really really (read: fall apart on the fork) tender. It just makes everything taste better.

For the gratin, 31 people gave it an average rating of 4 out of 5.

Apricot Pork Chops
Recipe by Michele Powers, Cooking Light, July 2005

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and 1 tablespoon sauce)

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 4  (4-ounce) boneless loin pork chops
• 1/4  cup  prechopped onion
• 1/4  cup  apricot preserves
• 1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
• 2  teaspoons  bottled minced garlic
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  cup  sliced green onions

Preparation

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.
Add prechopped onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in preserves, soy sauce, garlic, and salt; cook 3 minutes or until thickened. Add pork to pan, turning to coat. Sprinkle with green onions.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 231 (32% from fat)

Fat: 8.3g (sat 2.5g,mono 3.6g,poly 1.2g)

Protein: 23.9g

Carbohydrate: 15.2g

Fiber: 0.5g

Cholesterol: 73mg

Iron: 1.2mg

Sodium: 345mg

Calcium: 24mg

 

Butternut Squash Gratin with Blue Cheese and Sage

Recipe by Jackie Mills, Cooking Light, December 2008

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Ingredients

• 5  cups  (3/4-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 2 pounds)
• 1  (1 1/2-ounce) slice white bread
• 4  teaspoons  olive oil, divided
• 2  cups  thinly sliced onion
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh sage
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Steam butternut squash, covered, 10 minutes or until tender.
3. Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 12 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1/2 cup. Transfer to a small bowl; add 2 teaspoons oil, and toss with a fork to combine.
4. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced onion to pan; saute 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Transfer the onion mixture to a large bowl. Add butternut squash, chopped sage, salt, and black pepper to bowl, and toss gently to combine. Spoon squash mixture into an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle crumbled blue cheese evenly over squash mixture, and sprinkle evenly with breadcrumb mixture. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and crumbs are golden brown.

Nutritional Information

Calories:186 (31% from fat)

Fat: 6.4g (sat 2.4g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.5g)

Protein: 5.1g

Carbohydrate: 30.9g

Fiber: 4.8g

Cholesterol:  7mg

Iron:1.7mg

Sodium: 379mg

Calcium: 173mg

Thyme-Scented White Bean Cassoulet

Ever since I bought my cooking light cookbook, this is one recipe I've wanted to make. I love white beans and thyme, so I thought the flavors in this would be good. I was right! I served this one night while we were watching hockey and had another friend over (note: a GUY) and the two of them ate this right up! The hubs even said, 'what is this white thing in here?' (they were the parsnips).  He loved them! Oh an neither of them really cared that it was vegetarian sausage!  I would say if you are a carnivore, this would be even better with real sausage. I could definitely tell that it was veggie sausage.  But in our efforts to strive for good health, eating meatless dishes every other week are good for ya.

All of the chunky vegetables and beans make this a hearty, heart-warming dish.  And since it makes use of your slow cooker, comes together so easily!  I sauteed the veggies in the morning, threw it all in the slow cooker and set it on high. 

I am disappointed that mine looks like sludge and not at all like the picture on myrecipes.com. However I will say that the recipe posted on myrecipes is different from the one in my cookbook.

Make it easy on yourself and just do it.

As of today's post, 9 people gave this an average rating of four out of five.

Recipe by Robin Robertson, Cooking Light, October 2004

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups)

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 1 1/2  cups  chopped onion
• 1 1/2  cups  (1/2-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut carrot
• 1  cup  (1/2-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut parsnip
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 3  cups  cooked Great Northern beans
• 3/4  cup  vegetable broth
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1  (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1  bay leaf
• 1/4  cup  dry breadcrumbs
• 1/4  cup  (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 2  tablespoons  butter, melted
• 2  links meatless Italian sausage (such as Boca), thawed and chopped
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, parsnip, and garlic; cover and cook 5 minutes or until tender.
Place in a 5-quart electric slow cooker. Add beans and next 6 ingredients (through bay leaf). Cover and cook on low 8 hours or until vegetables are tender.
Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, and butter in a small bowl; toss with a fork until moist. Stir breadcrumb mixture and sausage into bean mixture; sprinkle with parsley.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 314 (29% from fat)

Fat: 10.2g (sat 3.7g,mono 3.7g,poly 1.7g)

Protein: 16.4g

Carbohydrate: 41.9g

Fiber: 11.6g

Cholesterol: 13mg

Iron: 3.6mg

Sodium: 777mg

Calcium: 177mg

Lentil-and-Sausage Stuffed Peppers

We've had dried lentils sitting around since we made the samosas recipe (see here SAMOSAS).  So I decided that it would be good if we could find a recipe that would help us use up some of these lentils. Also, I think after making the samosas I realized how delicious lentils are.  So I stumbled on this stuffed pepper recipe and thought it looked fantastic.  We also had most of the ingredients at home so it was easy to pick up some peppers, rice and shredded cheese.

I have to be honest as an unbiased source for all your cooking needs (lol nerd alert)!  We didn't see the point of stuffing this in the peppers.  The flavor of the stuffing was AWESOME. We'd totally make it again, but stuffing it in the pepper didn't enhance the flavor at all. I think it would be much better as a salad similar to the chicken and wild rice one (see here for DELICIOUSNESS).

I know you're probably looking at the ingredient list and thinking basil, balsamic, capers and....RAISINS?  But the raisins gave it just a hint of sweetness and a flavor you don't expect.  We also used a jalapeno sausage because the one listed in the ingredient list wasn't available. Other reviewers mentioned they used the jalapeno sausage with good results so I figured it was a safe bet.

So after taking all of this into account, we'll be making it again but instead calling it lentil, rice and chicken salad and 86-ing the peppers (or chopping them up and adding them in).

Recipe by Cooking Light, September 2000

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 pepper halves)

Ingredients

• 3  red bell peppers
• 3  yellow bell peppers
• 3  cups  water, divided
• 1/2  cup  dried brown lentils
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  cup  uncooked long-grain rice
• 1  cup  diced onion
• 8  ounces  basil, pine nut, and chicken sausage, chopped (such as Gerhard's)
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4  cup  dried currants or raisins
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh parsley
• 2  tablespoons  balsamic vinegar
• 1  tablespoon  capers
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh basil
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/4  cup  (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Cut bell peppers in half, keeping stems intact. Discard seeds and membranes. Cook bell peppers in boiling water 5 minutes; drain and set aside.
Combine 2 cups water, lentils, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan; add rice and onion. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Set aside. Place sausage in a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; saute until browned.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine lentils, rice mixture, sausage, mozzarella, and remaining ingredients except Parmesan in a large bowl. Divide lentil mixture evenly among bell peppers; sprinkle with Parmesan. Place stuffed peppers in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish; cover and bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 292 (30% from fat)

Fat: 9.7g (sat 4.2g,mono 2.4g,poly 2.7g)

Protein: 19.2g

Carbohydrate: 33.7g

Fiber: 4.3g

Cholesterol: 48mg

Iron: 4mg

Sodium: 541mg

Calcium: 211mg

Scallop Piccata with sauteed spinach

Sorry folks, no spinach on these plates.  The hubs hates wilted greens so we did not make that part of the dish.  But he does love piccata!  We've made several CL variations on the theme before, but have only used chicken. So this was our first experiment with scallop piccata and it was totally worth it!  Think fresh scallops are expensive? We used Trader Joe's frozen scallops (the whole bag), which I believe cost us maybe 5-7 dollars.  I'm sure fresh scallops would have been divine, but these were good enough for us to love it.

We tossed our scallops with some angel hair pasta, as recommended.

There's a reason why 17 reviewers gave this a 5 out of 5, um it's because this is delicious!

The only change we made to this recipe was to use sweet vermouth rather than dry. The recipe doesn't say  but I think dry vermouth is typically used in cooking dishes.  We only had sweet vermouth leftover from our wedding and decided to give it a shot. Otherwise we will just have vermouth lying around until it is covered in 5 layers of dust.  And you know what? It didn't matter, it was still delicious!

This dish really took me back to the honeymoon in Greece.  The combination of capers and lemon with the chewiness of the scallop reminded me of a dish they have called saganaki.  Saganaki is basically a fried cheese served with lemon and capers. Yum.

Recipe by Ivy Manning, Cooking Light, November 2009

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1/3 cup spinach, 3 scallops, and 1 1/2 tablespoons sauce)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  pounds  sea scallops (about 12)
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 5  teaspoons  canola oil, divided
• 1  garlic clove, chopped
• 1/2  cup  vermouth
• 3  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 2  tablespoons  butter
• 4  teaspoons  capers
• 1  (10-ounce) package fresh baby spinach

Preparation

1. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Pat scallops dry with paper towels. Sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper over scallops. Add 1 tablespoon canola oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add scallops; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned and done. Remove from pan; keep warm.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Add chopped garlic to pan; cook 10 seconds. Add vermouth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; cook 2 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Remove from heat. Add parsley, fresh lemon juice, butter, and capers, stirring until butter melts. Pour sauce in a bowl.
3. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add spinach; sauté 30 seconds or until spinach almost wilts. Drizzle sauce over scallops; serve with spinach.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 275

Fat: 13.1g (sat 4.2g,mono 5g,poly 2.5g)

Protein: 30.9g

Carbohydrate: 8.3g

Fiber: 1.8g

Cholesterol: 71mg

Iron: 2.8mg

Sodium: 607mg

Calcium: 122mg