What’s Going on Today: Returning from Martha’s Vineyard with a pile of laundry and an overtired kid.
Naptime Goals: Sort through mail, laundry and fridge. Make grocery list.
Tonight’s Menu: Meatballs for Choir Boys from the freezer, Salad, Wine.
Parenting Lesson of the Day: There is nothing like a visit to the grandparents to tire kids out!

On Tuesday we returned from Memorial Day on Martha’s Vineyard with a car full of laundry and sand. It was a great vacation. As you’ll see above, our time away included amazing weather and mellow days. Our time was mostly spent browsing local art fairs and peaking into our favorite shops. These low-key activities were the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

This trip was our first family getaway since the move last month and we both seized the opportunity for a mental break. My husband caught up on novels and crossword puzzles while I caught up on cheesy iTunes movies. As for cooking, I mostly relied on old favorites. One day we cooked up some hot dogs, another we enjoyed some fresh scallops with pasta and, get this, our last night we even had a date night while my in-law’s babysat. (Yeah!)

I began looking forward to scallops with pasta the week before we even arrived on the Vineyard. It is one of my favorite simple dinners and I haven’t made it in a bit since I haven’t found a good fish store in CT yet. So, the minute my daughter went down for her nap I raced to The Net Result and picked up almost a pound of diver scallops for dinner. Then, instead of cooking them during the day, I waited until just before dinner and whipped up this simple and elegant meal. I hope that scallops come your way this summer and, if they do, here is one great way to enjoy them.

Summer Scallops with Pasta

1 1lb.	fresh diver scallops
1 1lb.	Fettucini or any long strand pasta
3-4 T.	unsalted butter
2 T.	olive oil
2	cloves garlic, finely chopped

Pinch of Kosher salt
Serves 4

1. Rinse the scallops under warm water and pat dry with a paper towel.
2. Add olive oil and butter to a skillet over medium heat. Then, add the garlic and saute until lightly golden and softened.
3. Meanwhile, as the garlic is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta.
4. Once the garlic is soft and golden add the scallops to the pan and make sure there is a little space between each one. Saute until golden on one side – about 2-3 minutes – then turn each scallop over with a pair of tongs and cook the other side. When the scallops have cooked remove them to a plate covered with a paper towel.
5. Drain the pasta briefly and add it to the skillet in which the scallops where cooked. Twirl the pasta briefly to coat with the sauce. Divide amongst serving plates and top the pasta with scallops. Serve hot.

This dish would be beautifully enhanced by some fresh herbs. Parsley or basil would taste especially delicious.

Preparing this meal takes about 20 minutes from start to finish.

My daugher isn’t a big scallop fan yet, but she loves the pasta!

• Main Courses
• Pasta, Scallops

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What’s Going on Today: Enjoying Memorial Day weekend on Martha’s Vineyard.
Naptime Goals: Whip up some Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi during naptime, pop it in the fridge until dinner. Read magazines in the sun.
Tonight’s Menu: Ricotta Gnocchi with butter and cheese, green salad, fish on the grill.
Parenting Lesson of the Day: Fresh air + sun = happy children.

Memorial Day on the Vineyard was relaxed and low-key, just the way we like it. The weather was so nice that we didn’t really want to spend any time indoors, even during naptime. In order to maximize our time at the beach, I mostly concentrated on prepping food after my daughter’s bedtime and, for dinner, I stuck to recipes that could be completed in a relatively short time-frame.

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi is exactly one of these dishes. I make it a lot and really should have told you about it before now. To prepare the gnocchi I simply mix the four ingredients in a  bowl, form the logs and cut out the dumplings during naptime. Then I place them in plastic container and leave them, covered, in the fridge until dinner. Cooking them is amazingly easy and efficient. Bring salted water to a boil, add the gnocchi and cook them until they rise to the surface. This takes about five minutes, which is just enough time to make some browned butter with sage and get the Parmesan cheese out of the fridge.

Combined with our favorite fish from the grill and a green salad, our gnocchi rounded out a gorgeous dinner. It was also a hit with our daughter, ever the fan of anything with browned butter. Rest assured, gnocchi is not the only homemade thing I cooked over the weekend. In fact, I did an entire film about another dinner I made and will be writing about that on Thursday. Not surprisingly, the meal was also centered around some amazingly fresh seafood. I swear, there is nothing like a trip to The Net Result, our local Vineyard fish store, to signal the beginning of summer.

P.S. While you’re waiting for the next post, pop over to my blog on The Family Kitchen at Babble for the chance to win a trio of Tessa Kiros books! (The contest runs for one week.)

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi

adapted from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros

2 c.	good quality ricotta cheese
3 T.	finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 c.	all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil.
2. While the water is heating up, mix together the ricotta, Parmesan, flour and salt in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.
3. Lightly flour your hands and roll out the dough into thin sausages about ¼″ thick. Be careful not to add too much flour on your hands or the surface of the counter or the gnocchi will get tough.
4. Cut gnocchi with a sharp knife into pieces about ¾″ long. Drop into boiling water and cook for about 45 seconds, or until they float to the surface. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place in serving bowls. Serve with pesto, tomato sauce or browned butter sauce.

Gnocchi tastes great with many different toppings. I recommend Perfect Pesto, Tomato Pesto, Fresh Tomato Sauce, Butter and Cheese or any kind of light butter and herb sauce.

Naptime Stopwatch: Preparing the dumplings takes 10 minutes, cooking them in boiling water takes 5.

This is a wonderful dish for both adults and children. It is soft and easy to chew for toddler and goes well with almost any topping they might like.

• Main Courses
• Ricotta

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