Cheesy Orzo with Scallops and Tomatoes

2 cups Orzo pasta
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
8-10 Sea scallops diced or 1 pound bay Scallops
6 slices prosciutto diced
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup grape tomatoes quartered
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh mozzarella diced
8 basil leaves torn into small bits


bring stock to a boil. Add orzo, cook, stirring occasionally until pasta has absorbed water.

Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, cook prosciutto in a dry skillet until crispy, about 5 minutes, do not burn. Remove from pan to papertowel lined plate.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in pan. Season scallops with salt and pepper and add to pan. allow to brown on one side before stirring. Cook scallops through, 3-4 minutes depending on size. Deglaze pan with wine.

When Orzo is done, add both cheeses and stir. add tomatoes, scallops with wine, reserved prosciutto and basil and stir to combine. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately.

It's been too long between postings!

So here is a yummy recipe to hold you over.

Grilled Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops - Serves 8
2-3 pounds medium sized scallops (about 32, I got a big bag at Costco for $20!)
16 thinly sliced pieces of prosciutto (I buy them at Costco too)
Salt and pepper
16 Bamboo Skewers (12" or so, more if you have smaller)
Olive Oil

Soak bamboo skewers in water for about an hour. They will still burn, but not as badly.

Thaw scallops if frozen, drain water. Season with salt and pepper.

Cut each piece of prosciutto in half and wrap around a scallop, overlapping at the end. Put 2 skewers through each scallop (this really helps when you try to turn them over). Repeat until all scallops are wrapped. Drizzle olive oil over skewered scallops.

Heat grill to medium high (400 degrees or so) or heat a grill pan on the stove over high heat. Reduce heat to medium.

Oil or spray grill or grill pan. Place skewers on grill. Cook about 4 minutes on each side until scallops are done. Serve over risotto or some other yummy creamy grain.

Enjoy.

The Third Annual Centennial Soup Swap - A huge success!

Well, I have to say it was a great year for soup! We had 18 Swappers and 19 Soups. Lentils made a huge appearance this year, there were at least 6 lentil soups. I know there are at least 3 in my freezer waiting to be eaten! We also collected 315 food items for the Friends of St. Andrews food bank so it was a huge success.

The Soup Nazi was bribed and cajoled, but in the end it was Vanessa's green chili soup that made his cold better that took home the ladle.  Kyle is going to try harder next year since she was fighting mad about not winning this year!

We had all sorts of drama and intrigue during The Telling of The Soup. There were tales of unrequited lust, viagra and penicillin. Stories of Chinese meatballs, leftover Christmas hams and horse heads in your bed made the rounds, who will tell the best tale of all? The Soup Nazi said it was Jean, it might be because of the viagra, but I think it was the Italian threat...you decide...

Here is the winning Soup Story, a poem by Jean Grech

Amici Soup
Here is my soup - it's the best
Reason why?
Try to digest


Made with such tender care
Each little morsel of flavor to share

Never spicy - Never bland
A perfect taste
To beat the band

Sicily is the place it's from
Makes you feel so very young


I'll make you a deal you can't refuse
Try the soup...
What's to loose?

If you're not happy
Well that's too bad
A horses head
Will be in your bed


Throw Viagra out the door
That's what this soup is for!
Mangia!

Third Annual Centennial Soup Swap

It's that time again. Time to swap some soup!

I love the concept put together by blogger Knox Gardner at http://www.soupswap.com/news/.

1. Make some soup, or buy it and repackage it as your own, we don't care!
2. Freeze in quart size containers.
3. Gather fellow soup makers.
4. Swap some soup.
5. Go home with a bunch of different kinds of soup.
6. Have a great time.

In Centennial we like to have lots of soups. For the past 2 years we have had 17 kinds of soups at our swaps. We only do 4 quarts instead of 6 because frankly most peoples stock pots make 4 quarts easily. We don't want it to be hard, we want it to be fun. Our swap is famous for having a lot of still warm soups on the table!

We also have fun prizes. We award the best tale of the soup, the makers of the first soup gone and the poor last soup left on the table, and the Soup Nazi (Ron) awards his favorite swapper for whatever he feels like they have done to make the soup swap memorable (he is open to all types of bribery and sucking up!)

This year we are going to take on the challenge thrown down by Indianapolis and taken up by Knox's hometown of Seattle and try to collect the most food for a local food bank. We are not competitive or anything (yeah right!).

I hope you all can start a swap in your neighborhood. It's a lot of fun, a great way to meet the neighbors and you get some really great soup out of it.