Small Strokes Big Oaks

… there were quite a few Tweeps and family members that wanted to know how my impressive dinner for Tim went yesterday, and when I’m asked, I deliver.

I started the morning yesterday motivated to do something, but not so much motivated to do any actual work.  So I spent the day scouring my Woman’s Day Cooking Assistant iPhone App for good recipes to make.  I sent out a tweet and a Facebook status update for suggestions, and ended up deciding on the following menu (click on them for the recipes I used):

1. Scallops with Pesto Sauce
2. Risotto with Caramelized Onions and Tomatoes
3. Asparagus with Asiago Cheese

I knew this would be a lot of food, but Tim is a big eater, so I figured we’d be OK.  Needless to say, we ended up with a lot of leftover risotto and asparagus.  But we did eat all the scallops.  They were too good not to eat.

Any cook will tell you it’s always the timing of the dishes that gets confusing, even when the recipes are simple like these.  So I started by chopping up the veggies…

Chopped Tomatoes

Sliced Onions

…and de-thawing the scallops. (I wanted to buy fresh scallops, but by the time I got to the store, they were out.)

Frozen Scallops

Once all that was done, it was time to get the rest of the ingredients together and start cooking!  I set up the asparagus first because I figured it would be easy to throw that in the oven for 15 minutes once the risotto was started.

Asparagus Pre-Oven

Then, I started on the risotto.  I began caramelizing the onions first, and after that was going, I started boiling the water and butter for the risotto.  Once the water was boiling and the risotto was in it, I put the asparagus in the oven.  The asparagus, risotto, and onions were all done at the same time.  I took them all off/out of the heat and stirred the tomatoes into the onions.  I covered them all to keep them warm, and started on the scallops.  This was really my first experience cooking meat, and although they turned out OK, I’d say next time I should use less oil and let them brown a little more.  I used more oil than the recipe called for because I just thought it wasn’t enough!  But it would have been… oops!  So the scallops turned out a little moist for my liking, and the sauce ended up a little watery, but, all in all, the dinner was very good.

The Plate!

My impressive dinner was a success!  It smelled good, looked good, and tasted VERY good.  And only one wine glass was destroyed in the making of this meal. (The ones on our registry are apparently not very sturdy!)  If I were to do this meal again, I’d make two of the three dishes – perhaps risotto and asparagus or scallops and asparagus and not all three.  I would also definitely make less food!  And I’d be sure to keep the wine glasses away from flying spoons.  (It totally wasn’t my fault, I swear!  The spoon just had a mind of its own!)

On a side note, I do believe that food is a part of feminism.  From deciding what to eat because of body image and health to making a political statement with our diets to feeding a family, food is central to many feminist issues, and its important to consider food as a piece of activism.  Go food!