I haven’t had the best luck trying to cook seafood. But my loaded nachos are pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself. (And I just did.) “So what if,” I thought to myself, “I did seafood, but made it like my nachos?”
Hmm, that could work. But the seafood has to be sort of like the chili, so it can’t just be a baked chunk of something. Then I thought about the fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp, scallops and sun-dried tomatoes I had at a local Italian place. Getting close.
Then instead of cheddar, go with muenster so it doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the scallops. Okay, now it’s on.
Ingredients
fresh-made tortilla chips (or your favorite brand)
1 stick (¼ pound) butter
½ head (~10 cloves) garlic
1 pound shrimp, cleaned and de-veined
¾ pound small (80-120/lb) scallops
1 teaspoon each kosher salt and coarse-ground black pepper
½ cup heavy cream
4-5 thick slices muenster cheese (~¼ pound)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
sun-dried tomatoes
fresh chives
Directions
If you’re not making your own chips, you’ll want to warm up the ones you’ve got. Pop them in the oven set as low as it will go while you get the seafood ready.
Melt the butter over medium-high heat until it just starts to turn brown.
Mince the garlic. I used the new toy for this. You can do it old school if you prefer.
Add the garlic to the butter and stir.
Add the scallops.
I just added them frozen. You can get away with this if the scallops are very small. They thaw out really quickly before the outside burns.
While the scallops are starting, chop the shrimp into pieces about the same size as your scallops.
Add the shrimp and stir again. By this time the scallops should be thawed, so turn the heat down to medium-low.
Add salt and pepper, and stir over medium heat until the shrimp is pink all the way through. It should only take 2-3 minutes.
Add the cream and 3/4 of the muenster (which I also used the new toy to shred) and stir until the cheese is melted.
Remove from heat, add the Parmesan and stir.
Assemble the chips on a serving plate. Usually I do nachos on a large platter and share, but for these I did individual portions.
Top the chips with some of the seafood.
Sprinkle on the rest of the muenster.
Add sun-dried tomatoes and fresh chives.
And that’s it.
Ingredients
- 1 stick (¼ pound) butter
- ½ head (~10 cloves) garlic
- 1 pound shrimp, cleaned and de-veined
- ¾ pound small (80-120/lb) scallops
- 1 teaspoon each kosher salt and coarse-ground black pepper
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 4-5 thick slices muenster cheese (~¼ pound)
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
- sun-dried tomatoes
- fresh chives
Instructions
If using commercial corn chips, warm them in the oven set as low as it will go while you get the seafood ready.
Melt the butter over medium-high heat until it just starts to turn brown.
Mince garlic. Stir garlic into butter. Add the scallops. Chop shrimp into pieces the same size as your scallops. Stir in shrimp. Turn heat down to medium-low. Add salt and pepper.
Stir over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp is pink all the way through. Add cream and 3/4 of the shredded muenster. Stir until cheese is melted.
Remove from heat, add Parmesan and stir.
Assemble chips on a serving plate. Top with some of the seafood. Sprinkle on the remaining muenster, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh chives.
