I love lemongrass. Recently, I found Lemongrass Mint Vanilla Water (with no calories) and am still over the moon…I am also drinking one right now.  Yesterday, around lunchtime, I managed to find time to get to Whole foods for my weekly shopping trip. I was dying for scallops and new that I wanted to make a lemongrass sauce for them. Alas, WF was out of lemongrass and my frozen supply was out as well. However, I am happy to say that I feel back into my old supermarket addiction yesterday because when I went back for something lemongrass had been stocked! With my previous disappointment assuaged, I went home hoping that D would not mind that Piccata would no longer be on the menu. He went with it and I got my lemongrass infused sauce. My apologies for the lack of picture, I was too hungry and tired to clean the dishes and arrange the food and photograph it. Similarly, I was also too tired to actually cut the fresh herbs to top this – though I did have the fresh basil, cilantro and green onions out. If you add them, it will certainly heighten the flavor (even though I still licked my plate).  I suggest serving this in a bowl – rice on bottom, protein on top, sauce poured over to make an sort of semi-soup.  You can use any kind of protein you want. A nice, thick white fish, scallops or mussels work best. D had a Thai-crusted chicken breast (that I completely burned on one side…oops).

Lemongrass – Coconut Broth

One cup shallot or onion, diced
Three garlic cloves, minced
Two inch knob of ginger, peeled and sliced into large discs
Six lemon grass stalks (bottom 4 or 5 inches only), Bruised
One can of Lite Coconut Milk, separated (1/2 cup for rice and rest for sauce)
One cup White Wine
One cup Chicken Broth
One tablespoon red curry paste
One teaspoon Saffron, toasted
Squeeze of a half-lime (or you can use Kaffir Lime leaves frozen or fresh)
Sriracha to taste

Heat some oil in a large skillet. Combine the shallots, garlic, ginger, and chiles (is using) and allow to sweat for a few minutes. Add in white wine and chicken broth and reduce slightly to cook out the alcohol. Add curry paste and coconut milk and let simmer for a few minutes. Check for seasoning and then season according to taste. Finally, add Sriracha to taste and the juice of the lime. Strain and reserve sauce.

Scallops (for two)

Four U-10 Scallops (U-10 indicating how many per pound)
Salt and Pepper

Dry scallops thoroughly, but gently to prevent breaking. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper. In a small fry pan heat a good amount of oil over a medium high heat. Once hot, place the scallops gently into the pan and allow to cook, without moving, for two minutes on each side to achieve a nice sear. Remove from pan, pat dry and serve on top of Coconut Rice made with one part water, one part coconut milk.  Pour reserved sauce over both components and then garnish with your choice of fried shallots, cilantro, basil, green onions, or mint.