Cooking Light Night #16

Want to get more seafood in your diet but tired of salmon and white fish? Here is an awesome new recipe we cooked up tonight. Instead of fresh scallops, we used a frozen seafood blend from Trader Joes including scallops, shrimp and Calamari and it really turned out well. We also substituted whole wheat pasta instead of regular and am really glad we made that choice. It didn't taste all that different but oh man was it a lot more filling! This recipe carries a lot of heat so if you don't like spice this one is not for you. Don wanted a little more sauce but I thought it was perfect as is. Goes great with steamed broccoli and cauliflower. If you aren't watching your carbs, a nice dinner roll would also be great to mop up the sauce and help cut the heat a little.

Spicy Scallops in Red Sauce




3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound sea scallops
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
2 cups hot cooked rotini (about 4 ounces uncooked short spiral pasta)

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal bag, and shake well. Add scallops to bag; seal bag, and shake to coat scallops.

Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add scallops and garlic, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until the scallops are done. Remove scallops from skillet; set aside, and keep warm.

Combine cornstarch, sugar, oregano, pepper, and tomatoes in skillet; stir with a wire whisk until blended. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 minute or until thickened, stirring constantly with a wire whisk. Remove from heat; stir in 2 tablespoons parsley.

Combine tomato mixture and pasta; toss. Spoon pasta mixture onto plates; top with scallops, and sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Yield: 2 servings (serving size: 2 cups pasta mixture, 5 ounces scallops, and 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley)

CALORIES 452 (13% from fat); FAT 6.7g (sat 0.8g,mono 3.4g,poly 0.9g); IRON 2.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 37mg; CALCIUM 121mg; CARBOHYDRATE 65.7g; SODIUM 686mg; PROTEIN 29.3g; FIBER 1g

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 1995