H and I had Mel and beau over for a birthday dinner. Mel is turning a cool 26 and to celebrate 14 years of best friendship, what better way than having a home cooked dinner? We had mushroom tartlets for starters and an assortment of crackers with Boursin, a garlicky creamy soft cheese. Then the pasta I made specially inspired by the Italian dinner at Z’s. I used scallops in a sauce made with anchovies, tomatoes, capers and lots of garlic. I used capellini, a thinner spagetti. And sprinkled it with a generous amount of chopped basil and grated parmaggiano. For dessert, it was tiramisu, Mel’s all time favourite dessert. And of course cappucino at the end with Italian espresso and chocolate bonbons! It was fun, Happy Birthday Mel, there are many people who love you!
Special mention to H who peeled and chopped all the garlic for me and assisted in making the sauce. He makes a great sous chef!
Scallop Capellini in a Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
20 scallops split into half
10 cloves of garlic (yes, lots of it..)
6 tablespoons olive oil
10 large diced tomatoes
10 anchovy fillets, diced
1 tablespoon whole capers
Salt and pepper to taste
A good handful of chopped basil and parmesan to serve
Method
Fry garlic till golden brown, add anchovies and capers. Put in all the tomatoes and simmer till sauce thickens. Season to taste. Toss in pasta just before serving and top with basil and parmesan.
Now, that’s 2 birthday dinners down… 1 more tonight and a wedding on Wednesday.. I need to start exercising.
Happy Birthday!
Thank you Farhan for a scrumptious dinner! We really enjoyed it, was so stuffed and sleepless after that! Good luck with the eating.
Oh, thanks Patricia for the wish.
The spaghetti looks really good; I love my linguine with tomato sauce, and yours sounds delightful! Happy birthday to Mel!
WOW! The Capellini sure is mouthwatering! I’m going to try this dish of yours soon
P/S: Thanks for putting my bloggy link up here, I feel so honored
Zhullie (ovenhaven): I’m glad tomato is not on the list of vegetables you don’t go near! The recipe is good.. you should try it
Brenda: I love reading your blog, its so cute and filled with useful information. Please try the recipe, better for adults though! I don’t think A will like the sour capers..
But never know..
yummmm……..everything looks so good! u got a real passion n talent for cooking….it’s wonderful. H is a real lucky dude (n not jus bcos of the cooking, of course)
kakak n: thanx for dropping by! We are having trouble keeping our sizes down though! Have to work extra hard at it now..