🤤Buttered Scallops & Calamari Parmesan Ziti🤤

I used to love seafood, especially scallops. I remember stealing them off of my mom’s plate at dinner whenever she would order them.

Trying to replicate the texture of a scallop, I knew there would be a lot of sea salt involved in the process. I do my best to only incorporate salt whenever necessary, and this is definitely one of those times.

I highly suggest buying a fine quality heart of palm for this recipe, as it will be the center of your dish. Heart of palm does not produce the same “chewy” texture as squid or scallop, but certainly will not lack in flavor.

If you buy whole heart of palms, you will have more to work with. Cut the whole hearts of palm into 1 inch pieces. To ensure that nothing goes to waste, you will be using the “ring-like” pieces (which you can produce by pushing out the center of the heart of palm) to create the calamari meanwhile keeping the center intact to create your scallops. This process does require a bit of patience, but it is well worth it.

Now that your “fish” is cut and separated, lets get to work. Here’s the recipe:

Scallops:

2 Tbsp of Plant-Based Butter (Miyoko’s or Earth Balance will probably work the best)

1/2 Tsp of Pink Himalayan Salt

1 Tsp of Fresh Parsley

1/2 Tsp of Lemon Juice

A Sprig of Fresh Dill

Place all of the ingredients above into a sauté pan on medium heat, mix everything well. Once the butter begins to melt, add the scallops into the mixture. Cook on a medium-low heat until the scallops pick up color and begin to toast lightly on either side.

Calamari:

1 Cup of White Flour

1 Cup of Bread Crumbs

1/4 Cup of Cornstarch

1/2 Tsp of Baking Powder

1/2 Cup of Lemon Juice

1/2 Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Cup of Plant Milk

2 Tsp of Fresh Parsley

1 Tsp of Sea Salt (and a sprinkle for garnish if you’d like)

1/2 Tsp of Minced Garlic

1 Tbsp of Onion Powder

All of the dry ingredients go into one bowl, and all of the wet ingredients go into another bowl.

If you prefer a thick breading like I do, go ahead and bathe them twice in the breading & wet batter. Otherwise, you could just toss them into the liquid and then into the dry breading. Make sure to coat well.

Fry the calamari in your oil of choice until golden.

Ziti:

2 Cups of Vegan Ziti Pasta (cook it ahead of the time to save you some work)

2 Cups of Marinara Sauce

1 Tbsp of Chopped Garlic

1 Tbsp of Dried Parsley

1/2 Cup of Follow Your Heart Parmesan (it melts perfectly for this)

1/2 Cup of Diced Yellow Onion

2 Cups of Frozen Spinach (it’s weird, but trust me)

1 Tsp of Olive Oil

Throw the garlic, onion, and olive oil into a large sauté pan on medium-low heat until they become aromatic.

Add the marinara sauce & the frozen spinach. Just work the spinach while it’s in the sauce and break it apart if it’s all stuck together. You can bring the heat to medium and allow everything to come together. Add the parsley & the parmesan. Toss the precooked ziti noodles into the pan and get them nice and saucy.

Just a little note on why I like using frozen spinach for pasta: It breaks down and without cooking it all the way, it produces a rich and fresh flavor without “losing” most of your spinach.

Plate your dish however you’d like. I suggest delicately placing your fish onto the pasta for maximum aesthetic appeal. Enjoy!

#cheatmealkitchen