I've ranted before about the thoroughly confusing and counterproductive way that the recipes in Cuisine at Home magazine are presented (two columns, instructions all over the place). They also present the ingredients in a way that's the opposite of how it's done in every other magazine or cookbook. For instance, in any usual cooking mag, if you see "1/2 cup peanuts, finely chopped," that means you measure out the peanuts and then chop them. If, on the other hand, you see "1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts," you need to chop up a bunch of peanuts and then measure them out. The latter would require many more peanuts than the former. But Cuisine at Home presents all their ingredients the former way, so you never know if they want you to measure before or after chopping. In some cases it's obvious (like "1 cup onion, diced"), but most definitely not always. Idiots.
But they do frequently have dishes that turn out quite nice, so I plod through. And for you, my dear blog readers, I will take the trouble to retype them in a more sensible way (and then I'll also have the benefit of having it to follow next time).
Shrimp and Scallops with White Beans, Spinach, and Bacon
3 Tbsp panko
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp cayenne
1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed; divided (I couldn’t find cannelinis, so I used Great Northern.)
¼ cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 thick strips bacon, diced
1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
6 cups fresh spinach (I used a 5-oz. bag.)
½ cup chopped roasted red peppers from a jar
1 tsp lemon zest (I just did a few swipes with my Microplane right into the pot.)
8 large shrimp, peeled and deveined, about 5–6 oz. (Mine weren’t very large, so I used 12.)
6 sea scallops, about 6–8 oz.
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp unsalted better
¼ cup sherry
Preheat broiler to high with rack 8” from element.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl and set aside
Purée 2/3 cup of beans and broth in food processor with immersion blender until smooth; set aside. Reserve remaining beans.
Brown bacon in a large pot over medium-low heat until crisp, 10–12 minutes. Remove bacon; increase heat to medium-high. Sauté onion, garlic, and pepper flakes in bacon drippings for 2 minutes. Add spinach, roasted peppers, bean puree, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until spinach wilts. Remove from heat and stir in reserved whole beans and lemon zest.
Season shrimp and scallops with salt and pepper; toss with cornstarch. Melt butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat, then sear scallops for 30 seconds per side. Add shrimp; sauté for 30 seconds. Add sherry and cook until reduced to a glaze, 2 minutes.
(At this point there was a whole part about heating individual serving skillets under the broiler. Not likely. So here's what I did.) Offload shrimp, scallops, and sauce from skillet into any of the other dozens of dirty bowls this recipe requires. Put the bean and spinach mixture in the dirty skillet, then put the shrimp and scallops on top of that layer, sprinkle the bacon on top of that, and top with the panko crumb mixture. Broil until browned, 2–3 minutes.
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