When I went to college, I went to the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). Being from a fairly protective family in a unbelievably quiet bedroom community of Boston, my freshman year was nothing if not a crash course in how to live in the big world.
When I discovered that people were going to go away for Columbus Day, I thought I might do the same. I hit on the idea of flying home to Boston and then driving up to New Hampshire to pick up my best friend, Beth, and then onto Burlington, VT to visit our other best friend, Tracie. I am aware that having two 'best' friends negates the meaning of the word 'best.' I don't care.
My father, in a pretty impressive precedent he set when my mother was appalled at hearing kids talk about parties with alcohol at them during orientation weekend with his shrug and response, 'Rushie, she's at college,' basically said, 'Fine,' but gave me no direction on how I would achieve such lofty goals as Buying a Plane Ticket and Mapping My Route. Also, it must be said, my parents thought I was insane to fly all the way home from Detroit, only to get in the car and drive an hour and a half to New Hampshire and then a couple more hours to Vermont, and then repeat again a day later so I could get back to school. But to their credit they let me. I Was In College, after all.
Well, the day came to fly home and I was excited. I packed my bags and made arrangements with the mythical campus shuttle that would pick you up and take you to the airport. When the time came, I dragged my bag outside my dorm and up to the appointed shuttle pick up area. Except, the shuttle never came.
Minutes ticked by, and I got more and more nervous. I looked at my watch. Two hours to my flight. An hour and forty five minutes to my flight. And still no shuttle.
I had no idea what to do. I didn't have a number for a cab, and even if I did, in those pre-cell phone days, I would have had to drag my heavy bag all the way back down the hill and into the dorm room and lose the precious minutes that I needed to get me to the airport on time. I doubt I had enough money on me for a cab, anyway.
As it became clear I was going to miss my flight, I just fell apart and sat down on my bag and started to cry. Unbelievably luckily for me, some girls who were driving home for the weekend saw me and took pity. They had no idea who I was, but they offered to go out of their way and drop me off at the airport.
Well, you didn't have to ask me twice. I leaped into their car, wiped my tears away, and made my flight. When I got back to school that Monday, I proudly posted the map I'd used to navigate from my parents' house to UNH and St. Michael's College and back, on the back of our door, with the route highlighted and the proud caption, Heather's First Road Trip.
I'm sure I thanked those girls in the car, but I may never shake the feeling that I didn't get to thank them enough. I still have no idea who they were, just some nice girls who saw someone in need. And I know there is zero percent chance you're reading this right now, but I wish you were. Because if you were, girls, I would like you to know that I'm sure it was a small, little thing to you, but it was a big thing to me. And I still thank you.
Sixteen years later (oh my God, did I really just say that?), I'm sitting here in my basement in LA typing away. It is weirdly cold and gray out, and rain is forecast for the next three days. The weather here has been ridiculous. Ridiculous by LA standards, that is, which is still pretty cushy for the rest of the universe. But as a good Angeleno, I am appalled. Two weeks ago we were still having another 100-degree heatwave, and now I am stalwartly resisting the increasingly strong urge to put on the heat. I know better people than I have already caved.
The good news is, this Columbus Day weekend, I spent a bunch of the time stocking up on some recipes for you guys, so I will have plenty to roll out this week. Number one on the list is Nancy Strickland's Scallops Florentine. You may recall her from the Cheese Puffy Bubbly recipe from the Breakfast section. You may also recall from that entry that I mentioned Nancy is the source of my favorite lasagna recipe, which I use all the time. In short, it seems Nancy Strickland is a woman with a healthy appreciation for anything you can make in a giant casserole dish.
The Stricklands have a house on Cape Cod where they spend most summers. As such, I trust her opinion on shellfish recipes; they are quite the nautical, sea-air type bunch. Reverend Strickland says that she got this recipe from Father Jack of Our Lady of the Assumption Church, i.e. the catholic church on my side of town. I figure they know their large, yummy, Italian-type recipes. Add that all together and my hopes were high.
I went to the store and dropped a small fortune on scallops (shellfish just isn't as affordable in LA as it is in New England waters), and then went home to try to convince the spinach to thaw. Which it turns out, is harder than you'd expect when the weather isn't 100 degrees out. But around 6 or so Josh, who had been sweating away in the attic trying to install a ceiling fan in the guest room (oh it will look so good!), came to me, face awash with desperation, and said, 'When is dinner?!'
Well, the handyman gets what the handyman wants, so I decided to figure out how to thaw frozen spinach. The instructions on the package don't say much about thawing, just cooking, so I ignored them and threw the spinach in a giant bowl and microwaved the shit out of it until it was no longer a solid block. Seemed like a good theory.
The actual casserole construction is very simple. In my experience, Reverend Strickland's recipes make total sense to me so I have no trouble following them, putting them together, etc. They are easy and straightforward, and relatively Heather-proof.
Forty-five minutes later we happily hoovered up our Scallops Florentine over a glass of wine and an episode of Mad Men (we're on Season Two right now - so no spoilers, y'all). The finished product was a little bit less exciting than I'd expected -- the cheese not quite as cheesy and the spinach a little blah, which may be a result of my going off book with the whole thawing scenario.
In fact, the whole thing would probably benefit from a nice dousing of lemon, which I will surely try on the leftovers. I am also wondering if using fresh spinach in lieu of frozen would make me happier? I thought about that yesterday, too, but given the volume of spinach needed compared to the inadequate size of my food processor, I just couldn't face the hassle and mess. Also, I am wondering if I would like it better if I used Italian style cheeses (Parmesan, Mozzarella, Asiago) in lieu of the Monterey Jack/Mexican mix it called for, as for me what it was lacking was the salty cheesiness I love. That's the Italian cheeses, right? And the Mexican ones are milder?
I have no idea what I'm saying.
Nancy Strickland, a woman who truly appreciates the casserole dishNancy Strickland's Columbus Day Scallops Florentine
1 stick butter or maragine
3 pkgs frozen chopped spinach (thawed, cooked, and drained)*
3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or Mexican mix, because the grocery curiously does not have just plain old Monterey Jack)**
2-3 lbs sea scallops
2 cups Italian bread crumbs
2 tbsp garlic powder
Melt butter in large frying pan over low heat. Ignore that you are melting an entire stick of butter and tell yourself it's okay because it's for a huge casserole for 10 people. Add bread crumbs and mix until a paste forms. I think, as I learned during Artichoke and Shrimp Casserole, this may be called a 'roux.' Set aside from heat.
Add garlic powder and mix. Defrost spinach, only to discover afterward that you were also supposed to cook it and you probably should have followed the cooking instructions. Oops.
In large casserole dish, begin layering with the following:
1st layer - sprinkle half of (wet, clumpy) spinach
2nd layer - spread half of scallops (do scallops really 'spread' or do they more 'plop'?)
3rd layer - sprinkle half of various cheeses (now there you go, various)
Spread half of paste mixture, which is more like sprinkling because it's really just sort-of moist breadcrumbs. Repeat layers as above.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Enjoy!
*Maybe fresh instead? I have no idea how much this would be if it were fresh.
**Maybe Parmesan, Mozzarella, Romano and Asiago instead?
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