these are two of my favourite things

I actually had it in mind to cook scallops for Tuesday night dinner. Season them, sear them. Serve them with rapini, some other things.

Darn them for being a not very good price.

No matter. There are many things I love greatly when it comes to food. Rapini is one. It's right up there with asparagus in the pantheon of vegetables I enjoy. Oh, and parsnips. And fava beans. I'll stop.

I ended up picking up some mussels. I do like scallops for the way they take a sear, but mussels are about the easiest thing imaginable to cook ever. Conrad likes them, too, so we were good to go.

I gently sauteed diced red onion, garlic, red pepper, salt, pepper, and saffron. When is was softened, I turned up the heat and added sherry (note to self: buy more sherry). Reduced that a little, then added chicken broth. Brought it to a fast simmer and added in the mussels. Simplicity.



I was pleased. Conrad was pleased. All in all, perhaps not an expected combination, serving the mussels (a Spanish hint to them) and rapini (more Italian), but it worked well for us. Cookies aside, I haven't been very pleased with my cooking lately. This was a step back in the right direction for one night.