Weekend Flubs

The cooking gods were not with me this weekend.
I thought I'd try a two new dishes but an old one. Only one of the three came out decent.

1. Scallops and Pasta
I had never had scallops before but always thought they looked good. So I thought I'd try this little recipe. So what went wrong...

• Whoever designed my little 500 sq ft apartment put the smoke detector right next to the stove...what were they thinking???
• This recipe calls you to sear the scallops in a hot skillet. Maybe I had the skillet to hot but it started smoking and quickly filled up my little apartment with smoke which promptly set off the smoke detector TWICE.
• So while I'm fanning the detector yelling at it to "shut up," running to open the windows and sliding door, and plugging in my fan for a little air, my scallops were sizzling away...I think there were a bit overcooked.
• Plus, the recipe calls for White Wine, Beer, or Vegetable Stock. I had Salted Vodka (a work sample) and Beef Broth in my apartment...sure that would work, right?
• Salted Vodka and Beef Broth did not make the best combo.
• Overall, the dish was a dud, my apartment still smells of smoke and seafood (yum), and I threw most of it out. Live and learn.

2. Cast-iron Corn Bread
My cast iron skillet is a relatively new toy in my kitchen. I'm still very much playing with it and learning how to cook with it. This is the old recipe...I tried making it about two weeks ago and wasn't pleased with results so I thought I'd try again this weekend. So what went wrong...

• I'm thinking mistake #1 was the fact that I decided to make the corn bread after my Scallops and Pasta dud...both of which used the cast-iron skillet. Any suggestions on how to clean a cast-iron skillet appropriately? You're not supposed to use soap but just use hot water and towel dry the skillet in between uses. However my corn bread came out with an awful metallic, seafoody taste. Blech!

3. Zucchini-Layered Lasagna
I thought I could find the recipe online to link to this but could not...sorry. I'm sure I got it out out of a Martha Stewart magazine but couldn't find it on her website. Basically instead of noodles you use zucchini. This turned out really good. The recipe says I was supposed to let the tomato mixture reduce which I didn't do so the end product was a tad liquidy but the taste is yum! It will be my lunch and dinner.

All I know is that any cooking funk that I am in needs to be gone by Friday (along with the smokey, seafood smell). I'm having a tea party on Saturday and I have promised food with the tea.