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Preview of Next Week's Themes

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April  9, 2010

Starting Sunday at midnight, you can submit entries for Your Best Scallops and Your Best Recipe for Spring Peas.

 

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Norma823
    Norma823
  • dymnyno
    dymnyno
  • LynnATL
    LynnATL
  • ChefJune
    ChefJune
  • Lizthechef
    Lizthechef
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22 Comments

Norma823 April 13, 2010
to chef June

If you are in Manhattan what is wrong with China Town. They have such a turnover and they fish litteraly jumps out at you. You can get beautiful scallops for so much less. I only buy my fish there. Check it out.....
 
ChefJune April 13, 2010
I respectfully disagree. There is only one spot I've found in Chinatown where I will buy any fish at all. And Chinatown is not convenient to me for shopping.
 
pierino April 13, 2010
For some scallop facts check out seafood watch http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?gid=18

In fact the great majority of scallops sold on the West Coast are coming in frozen from Japan or China. If you are on the East Coast you have a greater likelihood of finding fresh scallops from the northeast and from Canada. Whole Foods out west was selling fresh scallops yesterday but at least at one location they couldn't tell me where they are getting them from. I'll try another one today. Seafood Watch does consider scallops from Asia a sustainable form of aquaculture. And as long as it doesn't involve dredging, wild caught are fine too.
 
dymnyno April 13, 2010
I love scallops! However...to buy the best scallops, that is, dayboat scallops that have not been deep frozen or treated with a chemical to preserve liquid they are soooo expensive. At my local market which sells fantastic meat and seafood (Sunshine Market in St Helena) the dayboat scallops were a little over $25.00 a pound! My husband loves my preparation so it's worth it!
 
ChefJune April 13, 2010
Wow, that's high! The fisherman at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan sells his fresh scallops for $16 - 18 depending, and Whole Foods is usually $18. I agree they're worth it, but they've become more "special occasion" eating at those prices.
 
dymnyno April 13, 2010
The market had three kinds of scallops...bay scallops which are the tiny ones, previously frozen Eastern scallops which had that previously frozen look about them (NOT appetizing looking) and the fresh ones which were beautiful! They looked good enough to eat raw...very tender to hold, nice smell and in fact they cooked up beautifully. They did not release water when put to the heat and they seared golden even without a dusting of flour. They were "wild caught" Sign said from Mexico?
 
pierino April 13, 2010
For non-seasonal seafood and produce for the West Coast, Mexico is ALWAYS a possibility and not necessarily off putting. I do try to go locavore, but given that our challenge this week is the scallop, well we'll look for the best we can find.
 
Norma823 April 12, 2010
Thank you foor 52
 
Norma823 April 12, 2010
This is my first time and a new blogger. does it have to be a scallop dish and a pea dish...or can you combine both
 
Food52 April 12, 2010
Hi Norma823! You'll submit the recipes to separate contests (http://www.food52.com/contests/138_your_best_scallops and http://www.food52.com/contests/139_your_best_recipes_for_spring_peas) so you'll probably want to have a recipe for each category that really highlights that ingredient. That said, there's nothing preventing your scallop dish from having peas in it, or vice versa.
 
LynnATL April 11, 2010
Perfect. I've been craving spring green peas and went to the farmer's market first thing Saturday morning. Score. Made risotto Saturday night and again tonight. Yum.
 
ChefJune April 11, 2010
Scallops and peas are actually delicious together. ;)
 
Lizthechef April 10, 2010
Just to give a perspective, the spring peas are "over" in southern CA. I am hanging on for dear life re local strawberries, peaked this week perhaps. Let's all take a deep breath...This is fun, remember?
 
Fabulous F. April 10, 2010
Spring green peas - impossible to get here in the midwest. Only the restaurants get them. The ordinary folks are stuck with frozen...bummer!
 
Merrill S. April 10, 2010
We find that there are some great organic frozen varieties. We're totally open to recipes that use those as an alternative.
 
pierino April 10, 2010
I guess it's time to bring on the coquilles st.jaques from whatever century that came from. We have other criminal ideas, although the coquilles is not a bad one. You just need to go to Cost Plus to buy the scallop shells.

Pierino expects to be taking a different path with this tender horse flesh of the ocean. But you never know....Something scary and bad for you.

We are still waiting for the abalone battle.
 
Lizthechef April 10, 2010
It is still legal to harvest abalone? I've lived in San Diego since 1974 and have great memories of abalone feasts...
 
pierino April 11, 2010
In all seriousness (something for which Pierino is not famous for), abalone is now being farmed up in Cayucos, CA. Seafood Watch has deemed it to be one of the best, sustainable forms of aquaculture. It's expensive, as in $75 per pound plus shipping but it is a remarkable come back. If you haven't tasted abalone before it might remind you of scallops.
 
shayma April 10, 2010
beautiful!
 
aargersi April 10, 2010
Yum on peas and scallops! Thank you for another veggie and a seafood to boot ... can't wait to see what everyone cooks!
 
Kayb April 10, 2010
Can these be any kind of peas? Or are we limited to the spring green peas?
 
Merrill S. April 10, 2010
We were thinking spring green peas.