Friday, April 1, 2011

Simple Suppers

I've been blessed with a full week of work. Actually, I got a call to do a vacation cover starting last Thursday, which means seven days at the same place. Hooray!

A full work-week meant a weekend of planning, so I spent last Sunday afternoon chopping fruit for a giant fruit salad, baking muffins (thanks, Lin) and making lunches (thanks, Elaine).

With breakfast, snacks and lunch taken care of, there remained to figure out only supper. This week was all about quick, simple, satisfying meals: an omelette with herbs de Provence and a bit of goat's cheese, very cumin-y hummus and veggies, steamed asparagus and some smoked salmon, and the simple supper that topped them all this week, scallop salad.

Tall Guy worked most of last weekend, but we did get to do a bit of exploring on Sunday afternoon. We went to Islington (what lovely shops and cute cafes there are along Upper Street!) and happened upon the Chapel Market. It's not a big market to begin with, and we got there near the end, so many stands were closed or closing. This turned out to be a good thing: we picked up a load of seafood for a fabulous price: 8 sole for £10, a kilo of squid tubes for £5, and nearly four pounds of scallops for another tenner (don't you love the mixture of imperial and metric?).

What to do with all that fish? Freeze it. We cleaned the sole (Tall Guy won the descaling race) for freezing, kept the squid frozen, and froze three pounds of scallops. That left us with one pound of lovely fresh scallops. What to cook, what to cook?

Not stew or wrapping, that's not simple (and I don't really like prosciutto anyhow) and not grilling, we don't have a grill! I made like the French and sauteed! I seasoned them with salt and pepper and threw them in a pan with some olive oil and lemon juice. Then I dumped (er, arranged) them on top of some greens and an avocado. I finished them off with a squeeze of lemon juice and a dash of black pepper et voila, we had a simple supper, and seafood to boot!

Please, please PLEASE share with me your favourite simple supper. We can create a Top 10 list, or even get a month's worth! So spill... what's your go-to, no-prep-required meal for work nights?

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