The recipe was supposed to be family friendly and quick...

and I think it still is...but in addition to being a story about what constitutes fast cooking, this is the story of the beauty of opportunity and an odd place to find a really great ingredient.

The Tuesday Menu -

Moroccan Spiced Scallops

Roast Cauliflower with Cumin

Steamed Haricot Vert

Couscous or Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Todays menu started out in a decidedly different direction. My sister Lisa had asked me to write about the recipes I feed my kids. You know, the quick ones. Stuff you can make right out of the pantry. Right! - I thought - That sounds like the chickpea and pasta soup from Marcella Hazan. Unlike the barley soup, this is one of her many excellent recipes that I turn to over and over again. As it turned out, just as I sat down to write, I got a call. My neighbor. She was heading over to Costco. Costco?! It's easy to loathe Costco but there is one thing that I love. Wild dry scallops. I scrapped the soup idea immediately.

I was reading about scallops a few months ago and according to one article, Costco is the place for wild dry scallops. Dry scallops are what you need to look for because they are untreated. They brown beautifully and remain silky, velvety and sweet. Wild scallops are as delicious as anything you might ever hope to eat. Wet scallops, on the other hand, are icky and processed; they are pumped full of water and phosphates which act as a preservative. When you try to cook them, all they do is leak that nasty brine and refuse to brown. Instead wet scallops become rubbery little white blobs. Yuck. So, since my neighbor was going to Costco, and I never go because I hate to, I jumped on the chance for big wild scallops. We decided to share 2 pounds.

Since I discovered the source for these high quality shell fish early this fall, I have been making a bit of a pig of myself. I like scallops a la diavola, a spicy dish of scallops, tomatoes, chilies and linguine and for awhile there I was making it every time my dad went to Costco, bribing him with dinner. But now I am trying not to eat pasta all the time so I found this recipe: Moroccan Spiced Seared Scallops. Since scallops are naturally sweet and have a very appealing texture, I am hoping the kids are really going to like this.

Game Plan:

For the fast version, use the couscous menu variation. Baking sweet potatoes takes an hour at 375 - the same temperature that you roast the cauliflower - if you have the time. You would start the sweet potato half an hour before putting the cauliflower in the oven, and skip the couscous step.

1. Start the cauliflower first.

2. Follow the directions on a package of couscous.

3. Mix the spices for the scallops

4. Set up a steamer for the beans and fire up the stove

5. Begin cooking the scallops.

6. Toss the beans with unsalted butter and sea salt when they are just tender (5 minutes or so) - I just put a tbsp of butter into the serving bowl, and let the hot beans do the melting and give them a squirt of lemon juice and a dusting of sea salt just before serving (any earlier and the lemon will turn them brown!)

Anyway, Lisa, I still think this is fast. Definitely less than a half hour of work - couscous version! AND, the bonus is, even though neither of us ever wants to go to Costco, Dad will happily go and get scallops if you promise him a wonderful meal for his efforts!

Moroccan-Spiced Scallops - from Fine Cooking

1 medium lemon

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1 1/2 pounds large natural dry sea scallops, little muscle on the side removed. This is so easy - just pull it right off.

Ground pepper

In a small bowl combine the cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger.

Pat the scallops dry and season them with kosher salt and black pepper. Then coat them with the spice mixture.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat until it shimmers. Add half the scallops - DO NOT CROWD! - they won't brown properly - I'd give an inch or so between each one, turning once, until seared on the outside. Give 1-2 minutes per side. Transfer to a warm plate and repeat until all scallops are done. Serve with lemon wedges.

Roast Cauliflower

1 large head of cauliflower

3 tbsp good tasting olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin

Salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 375.

Remove the outer green leaves of the cauliflower and cut the head into florets, toss out the stems. Place cauliflower on rimmed sheet pan and toss with olive oil, sea salt and pepper. To avoid annoying clumping of the cumin, take pinches of it and rub your fingers together over the cauliflower. Toss again. Place in oven for 30 minutes. This can be served hot or warm and it will turn even the most rabid hater of cauliflower into a devotee!

I'll let you know how it turns out - I have high hopes. Maybe I'll get to the Chickpea and Pasta soup later in the week. I'll have to see what comes my way!

Ok. It's 4 hours later. The kitchen is clean, the kids are asleep and the votes are in. I liked the scallops although I must say that they really don't need anything more than unsalted butter and salt and pepper. Martin liked them, but he likes them a la diavola more. The little guy refused to try them, the middle one ate one but really went to town on the green beans and the big one ate mostly cauliflower. I say there was something here for everyone.

Crazy Thursday = Braised Lamb Shanks? What?!

Thursday is too crazy. Volunteer work in the morning, multiple kid commitments in the afternoon - all overlapping of course, sometimes all of us five plus my dad for dinner, sometimes only half the family. So why would I decide to braise lamb shanks on a day when it really should be quesadillas and guacamole? I don't know. I bought them on the weekend and the thought of them 2 days after the Thanksgiving gourmet gauntlet kind of put me over the edge so I tossed them, already seasoned with s & p into the freezer. But there they sat niggling at me. I thought I might forget about them there and that I would come across them in May under a thick coating of freezer burn. So I pulled them out of the freezer and now find myself on crazy Thursday with a braise and gremolata to play with. Also, my father-in-law brought a bottle of St. Germain home and I've been DYING to try some, so I popped a bottle of champagne in the fridge as a mixer for drinks before dinner. What's going on? I don't drink drinks before dinner - not on crazy Thursday.

I was wrong to be overwrought about this. Stew - which I love - drives me nuts; getting the deep caramelized browning on all those pieces of meat without steaming them (by overcrowding the pan in the zeal to complete the task), or the possibility of burning the fond because of the desire for deep browning. Also there is a fair amount of chopping involved. Carrots, potatoes, onions. I love stew but I rarely make it Monday-Thursday.

The shanks turned out to be a lot easier! They're large and I'm making 6 so I did have to do two batches, but because they're big it's actually hard to crowd them into the pan. You wouldn't want to prop them up on each other. The entire side of each shank should lay flat on the bottom of the pot, maximizing the area to be browned. Twelve minutes of browning for each batch with very little attention from me seems reasonable. While they were browning, the peeling and rough chopping of carrots, onions and a head of garlic (whacked in half) was very straight forward. With the addition of a can of peeled tomatoes, a little wine and chicken stock, the whole thing came together in less than half an hour. Not too bad. The cooking time is long, plan on 2 1/2 -3 hours. There is about 10 minutes of work on the serving end, skimming off the fat and straining the sauce, making the gremolata. But, I can see myself - elderflower scented champagne glass in hand - blithely chopping parsley, garlic and lemon rind. I hope I don't chop one of my fingers off.

Braised Lamb Shanks

4 lamb shanks trimmed of excess fat

Salt and Freshly ground pepper

Olive Oil

2 onions. peeled and cut into 1/8ths

2 carrots - peeled and cut in 1" pieces

1 head of garlic, cut in half

1 small dried chile pepper

4 black peppercorns

1 sprig of rosemary

a bay leaf

3/4 cup white wine

1/2 can of whole peeled tomatoes, chopped

2 cups chicken broth

Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Best if you can do this the night before, leaving them covered with parchment in the refrigerator overnight.

Generously cover the bottom of your dutch oven with the olive oil and heat on medium high. When the olive oil shimmers add the 4 shanks - if they fit flat on the bottom of the pan; if not, do them in two batches. Brown them well on all sides - this will take about 12 minutes. If you know your pan and your stove, don't hang about watching them brown, get chopping! This will be over very quickly if the vegetables are ready. When they are deeply browned, remove them from the pan and pour off the fat. If the residue in the pan is blackened or bitter smelling, wipe the inside of the pan carefully before continuing with the recipe.

Add more olive oil to the pan, and again over medium high heat add the onions, carrots, garlic, chile pepper, peppercorns, rosemary and bay. Cook until the vegetables are slightly soft, about 3 or 4 minutes, then add the wine and tomatoes. Turn up the heat to high.

When the wine has reduced by half, put the lamb shanks back into the pot and add the chicken broth, arranging the shanks so that they are mostly covered by liquid. Bring to a boil and pop the whole thing into the oven at 325 for 2 1/2-3 hours. Remove the cover during the last 20 minutes of braising to allow the lamb to brown a little.

When the lamb is very tender and is falling away from the bones, take the meat out of the liquid and put on a plate. Skim off all the fat with a flat serving spoon. The clear, viscous liquid on the surface of the braise is what you are looking for. Skim it all off! It won't add to the finished dish. Take the remaining skimmed liquid and put it and all the vegetables through a food mill - it will catch any rough pieces of the garlic, bay and chiles and turn the vegetables into a beautiful smooth sauce. You may need to thin it with a little more broth. Taste, then add the lamb back to the sauce.

Gremolata

Near the end of cooking time, you will need to make gremolata. Get out a chopping board and a sharp chef's knife.

Chop washed and carefully dried parsley to make 3 tbsp then chop one clove of garlic. With a microplane grater, take the rind from an organic lemon. Mix it all up and you're good to go.

The shanks go nicely with polenta or mashed potatoes, but because it's crazy Thursday I am making buttered egg noodles and calling it a day. Steamed broccoli rabe on the side.

My house smells inviting and deliciously wintery. I, on the other hand, smell like browned lamb shanks, which is weird but worth it. For this recipe I have to thank Alice Waters again and The Art of Simple Food.

P.S. It is worth noting that Crazy Thursday might not be the best time to introduce an unfamiliar dish to kids. Thursday is over-programmed enough at our house without adding meltingly tender and flavorful meat that has, unfortunately (for them), a modicum of visually-unappealing-to-kids-connective-tissue and fat on it. The little guy didn’t eat one bite and the biggest one was coerced into three. If she hadn’t been so tired I really believe she would have eaten the whole thing though...I really do.

So you have soup - now what?

You can't just have soup for dinner. Ok. Maybe if you are alone at home, you could have a big bowl of soup by yourself. I certainly could. I would never give just soup to my family. There has to be stuff to go with it. My son would be really mad if I didn't get any "fancy cheese". This used to be La Tur which is our favorite - a French creamy cow and sheeps milk cheese with a rind, but then during the gas crisis it got so crazy to buy it that I branched out. It's kind of embarrassing actually, admitting to liking Boursin. It's so seventies. It's so everywhere. Maybe it has even been bought by Kraft - who knows? I hate to say it - I love the cracked pepper version. So sometimes I still serve La Tur, but I admit to a secret love of Cracked Pepper Boursin and my kids totally love it. I like either cheese with olive oil crostini crackers - I buy the Whole Foods house brand.

If cheese and crackers doesn't seem filling enough, something we like with Bean and Pasta Soup - or any soup really - is a grilled cheese sandwich. Here in Seattle, I get a bread called Columbia from Essential Baking. It has wheat flour, whole wheat flour, a little rye, water, organic malt and sea salt. I guess that means it is naturally leavened. Its chewy crust! Its flavorful crumb! I love it. For cheese, I use either sharp cheddar - our local Beecher's is very good - or a young Fontina. The bread should be sliced not too thick and I brush the outside with olive oil before putting it in the sandwich press. French ham, Fra Mani Salami - the Sopressata or the Nostrano are terrific - or my personal favorite, mortadella, are good either in the sandwich or on the side. If all you can get is Boar's Head or some prepackaged supermarket salumi, don't bother. The sandwich with cheese alone is delicious enough.

Even though it's a mostly vegetable soup, I still think that you need something fresh with it. So I make a platter of cut raw vegetables, including the obvious carrots, celery, cucumbers and peppers and also romaine hearts or blanched green beans. If I make something to dip those into my kids won't stop eating vegetables.

There are two dips to go with the vegetables and I like both. Some people might find the mayonnaise version very low rent - I still love it but I come from a mayonnaise family! That being said, there is only one kind of readily available mayonnaise from a bottle that I like and that is the Trader Joe's version. It's not too gelatinous like the Best Foods one that so many people and publications rave about. (Why!?!?) It's more lemony and satiny. If I'm not making my own - and because of the whole salmonella thing I rarely do this anymore - Trader Joe's Real Mayonnaise is the way to go.

To make the mayonnaise version:

1/2 cup Trader Joe's Real Mayonnaise (blue and yellow label)

squirt of lemon juice to taste (from a lemon, please - not a bottle)

(1) grated small clove of garlic - I hope you already have a microplane - I couldn't live without mine

Mix it all up and adjust lemon and garlic to taste.

To make a Greek Yogurt version:

1/2 cup Greek yogurt (full fat or non fat - you choose)

sea salt to taste (start with a little and be prepared upon tasting to add more)

(1) small clove of garlic grated with a microplane

a splash of fruity, green olive oil if you are using the non-fat Greek yogurt (like the California Estate one in the tall green bottle from Trader Joe's)

Stir it all up, adjusting seasonings to taste.

Does this seem like a lot to do for a simple dinner of soup and sandwiches? I will write a game plan. It doesn't have to take over the whole day.

Craving Soup: one easy method

I was totally let down by Marcella (Hazan) last week. Even though I have never met her and probably never will, I always think of her as a good friend. I can't help it. It's the way she writes - as if she were peering into your pot over your shoulder, watching you screw up. Her tone is so authoritative that I would try anything she says is delicious. Sometimes blindly following her lead doesn't work out too well.

In the recipe for Barley Soup in the Style of Trent she promised: "...exceptional appeal from successive layers of flavor laid down by sauteed onion and ham, by rosemary and parsley and the diced potato and carrot, which [should have!] provided the ideal base for the wonderfully fortifying quality of barley itself." Whatever, Marcella! It sounded so good but it tasted like watery gruel with bacon bits. We all hated it - the whole family. I couldn't even imagine eating some for lunch the next day so I ran it all down the disposal. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to admit to that. Oh well.

Here's a soup that DID work well. Very well. And it's so handy to have a recipe where you don't actually have to have stock stored in the freezer. Although I have to say, I do - Marcella whipped me into shape on that one. As she so witheringly puts it:"...for the sake of practicality, alternatives are given for homemade meat broth, the hope here is that you ignore them, relying instead on the supply of good frozen broth you try always to have on hand". Ouch. We can discuss broth later, I love to make chicken stock and it's not a huge deal.

Bean and Pasta Soup, a recipe from Alice Waters in her book The Art of Simple Food, is easy, it makes your house smell good and it's not asking too much to get a kid to try some. I like this recipe because, as I said, you don't have to have any stock on hand and with her excellent exhortations on when and how to salt and taste, you can really mess around with it. Just follow the directions the first few times and then you can add other things, like kale or green beans or butternut squash or potatoes!

The original recipe calls for fresh shelling beans and the first few times I went out of my way to get some. They were delicious but dragging my kids down to Pike Place Market at what was either the very beginning or the tail end of the cranberry bean season (the classic bean to use for this soup) for limp scraggly looking specimens was a big pain and I don't have time to consider if it's bean season or not. Dried beans are very nice. Ms. Water's suggested variation is to use a cup of dried beans and I always have a lot of cannellini in the cupboard anyway. You could use dried cranberry though - they're easy to find in the bulk section.

Bean and Pasta Soup, 4-6 servings

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup finely diced red onion ( I use about 1/3 of a red onion - the behemoth type typical of grocery stores - use a whole one if you have a coddled, lovely, farmer's market onion)

1/4 cup finely diced carrot (I use about 2/3 of a medium carrot)

1/4 cup finely diced celery (I use 2 stalks)

a pinch of dried chile flakes

2 tsp coarsely chopped fresh sage. (get a plant and grow this somewhere in your yard, parking strip, whatever, you'll make good use of it)

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. (I use a 7+ quart Le Creuset which is about right)

Add the vegetables, chiles and sage. Cook until soft, stirring now and then. Cook for 12 minutes. Set a timer. I do.

Now add:

4 peeled and roughly chopped garlic cloves

Sea Salt

Cook for 2-3 minutes

Now TASTE. This is important. This is the thing I learned from Alice Waters. And it seems so simple and obvious now. Starting with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt - sea salt - add it and stir. Take a small spoon and taste the soffrito (which is what you call onions, carrot, celery etc). Is it good? Does it taste like you want to eat more of it? If not, add another 1/2 teaspoon. Maybe take it off the heat while you think about it so you don't burn your carefully softened vegetables. As you make more soup, you won't have to do this as often. But the first two or three times, taste very carefully every time before you add the next layer of flavor.

Add

(1) 12 ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained of their liquid and chopped (add the liquid that comes out of the chopped tomatoes though)

Cook for 5 more minutes. Then add your beans.

1 cup cannellini beans cooked and prepared as described in the notes on the right

Sea Salt

I use a slotted spoon to scoop the beans out of the pot and then ladle their broth into the soup pot until everything is covered up by about a 1/2 inch. Simmer over low heat, stirring sometimes. 15 minutes more or less. The soup is complete now except for the pasta. You could stop here and serve it tomorrow. But if you are going to do that, don't add the pasta until just before you eat.

Cook 1/4 pound of tiny pasta, ditalini, orzo - that's what I like - in salted water. When they are done, drain and add to the HOT soup. (If you are reheating don't add pasta until the soup is good and hot - pasta will soak up all the nice broth and you will have a large bowl of stodge)

If you have a large wide soup plate, now would be the time to use it.

Garnish with:

Extra virgin olive oil

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated.

I like the California olive oil in the tall skinny green bottle from Trader Joe's for this. It's got a taste like artichokes and a nice peppery finish.

* I really hope you won't resort to canned beans for this recipe - did you know they are cooked right in the can!?!?! At least that's what I heard. There's nothing wrong with canned beans per se. It's just that you won't get any of the good bean broth that way - only that sticky nasty stuff.