Condiments everywhere = Amazing Scampi!

, Headache again this afternoon. I knew it would be so easy to order pizza, but really, it's so fattening and can be expensive when we order it from the better place in town. And I have a feeling this headache could keep lasting, and we can't order or go out every night I don't feel well.

Instead, I actually slowed down a bit and cat napped on the couch after school for awhile. Felt much better, so I faced the fridge....what do you make when it's chock full of condiments and not much else?
Next step: check the freezer. Not much in there either. Found three mystery items:

One was a beef stew thing I made when Will experimented with eating meat again. Way old. Garbage. One was Red Clam Sauce--also questionable when it was made (why don't I date these things?). Garbage. Third one was a Bingo: left over marinara sauce that I knew was recent. Also found the other half of the bag of IQF scallops from Monday's dinner. Now we're on to something because I always keep pasta in the house.

So: Scallops Scampi for Will & I, linguine with butter for Owen, and linguine with marinara for Kira. It's pasta bar at my house.

 First, I wish I had farm garlic. But I do enjoy my garlic peeling tube. Have you ever tried one? They rule! You just put the whole clove in there, press down and roll, and it peels the entire skin off lickety split!
I like to chop of the garlic using the ulu knife and board that my mom and dad brought back from Alaska (though Will likes it thinly sliced a la Goodfellas, it's harder to do).
 

I only had a tblsp. of butter in the fridge, and I still mad an amazing scampi! The trick is good quality olive oil, and vegetable broth.  What I do is first pat the scallops dry and sautee them in a pan with a little olive oil and set them aside. Then I put 2 tblsp or so of olive oil back in the pan with the chopped garlic. I used two cloves. Once that softens a bit, I put in the butter and add in about 1/4 cup of flour and stir until slightly browned. Then I pour in 1 cup vegetable broth, a splash or so of white wine, and juice of half a lemon. Whisk it all together to break up the flour roux.  Let it cook a bit to thicken.

Serve the portions of pasta with the scallops, pour the scampi sauce over each individual bowl so you know you have enough.

I leave the cooked pasta in the pot tossed with olive oil so everyone can have/his or her favorite sauce on it.

   One cool new product I tried tonight was Hannaford's sleeves of broth concentrate you mix with a cup of water. Sometimes I open a carton of broth (Pacific is my favorite), but don't finish it up and it goes bad. This is a great way to keep broth in the cupboard!