(Serves 4 as an entrée protein)
 
            When the summer’s sun casts down upon your body, and you are sweating and craving something to cool yet awaken you to the ecstatic mystery of flavor, make this dish. Poached scallops are a quick protein to prepare, and as long as they are fresh, their softness will sing to this mouth-igniting sauce. Castelvetrano olives’ briny base and floral fresh oregano’s floral hint temper the bright umami of preserved lemons and fermented Calabrian chili peppers. This sauce contrasts with the mellow scallop flavor to leave your mouth so spinning it will cool down your summer-fevered body. 
 
            If you do not have your own fish stock handy, you can make your own with almost any white fish bones, a bay leaf, fresh parsley, a touch of white wine, and water. Of course in most grocery or fish stores now you can find stock prepared for you. You can purchase Calabrian peppers online through numerous stores, but the only brand I am familiar with is Tutto Calabria. If you cannot procure the Calabrian peppers in time, you can use Jalapeno or Serrano peppers to taste. Preserved lemons are also now widely available in many supermarkets and online. I prefer to make my own preserved lemons and  recommend Paula Wolfert’s recipe in The Slow Mediterranean Cookbook. If you wish to use an online recipe, this recipe basically is Wolfert’s preserved lemon recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016212-preserved-lemons . It can take several weeks to prepare the lemons, so if you decide to make your own, you will want to prepare ahead. While Caper leaves are harder to come by, you can find them in gourmet or Italian markets, as well as online through a variety of retailers. If you cannot find caper leaves, you can use the same amount of capers. 
            While the sauce is designed to fit this scallop dish, you can use it on a variety of proteins such as any white fish, salmon, roasted chicken or pork, poached eggs, or grilled tofu. 
 
Sauce: 
2 tablespoons preserved lemons, rinsed, removed of flesh, and small diced the skin
4 tablespoons Castelvetrano olives, rinsed and small diced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
½ teaspoon Calabrian hot pepper, minced (or a minced Jalapeno)
½ teaspoon caper leaves, chopped (or capers)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of sea salt 
 
1. Place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. On low heat, slowly heat the mixture until it comes to a slow simmer and blooms out fragrance, then pull from the heat to rest. This should only take about 2 minutes. 
3. Serve the sauce at room temperature over poached scallops.
 
Poached Scallops:
4 cups of fish broth/fume 
5 sprigs of thyme 
1 pound sea scallops
Sea salt, enough to make the poaching liquid salty like the sea
 
1. Place the fish broth, thyme, and salt in a shallow stockpot.
2. Bring the broth up to a slow simmer.
3. Add in the scallops and cook them for about 2.5-3 minutes, or until medium-rare.
4. Pull the scallops from the liquid with a slotted spoon or strainer.
5. Lay the scallops out in an even layer on a plate covered with unbleached paper towels. 
6. Place the scallops in the refrigerator to cool. 
7. Serve the scallops on individual plates, about 3-4 per person, and top with the preserved lemon sauce. Garnish with a pinch of fresh herbs, like parsley, basil, or dill. 
8. Save the fish stock by placing it in a glass container and freezing it. 

Spice-Infused Crispy Polenta Cakes 
            (Serves 6-7 as an entrée) 
 
            Once you start exploring beyond the wheat-diary duo overemphasized in most American diets, gluten and dairy-free friendly carbohydrates come in many forms. The ancient polenta strain of corn has been cultivated in Italy for centuries, and this ancient grain shows a versatile and flexible flavor profile that lends itself to a variety of combinations. The usual note that cooks play with polenta is to add a bunch of cheese and sometimes cream, but this is often an easy play that is not necessary. This recipe boosts the corn flavor inherent in the polenta by adding in spices that build the flavor from the ground up and infuse the grain with a round, simultaneous sharp and mouth-pleasing depth. 
 
            This recipe will give you enough polenta to make about 20 small cakes. For a dinner side dish, I like to serve three cakes per person, but you can certainly adjust this to fit your dining style. If you would like to reserve some of the polenta cakes for another meal, simply leave them in the dish after cutting and cover with plastic wrap or parchment paper. While you need to plan ahead about a night before to cool the polenta so that it solidifies before you roast it in the oven, the cakes last for quite some time, and depending on the group you serve, can be used for multiple meals. The cakes should last about five days in the refrigerator, and while they can be oven roasted in the manner described in the recipe below, they can also be simply eaten cold (at step 11) or gently warmed in the oven or a pan. 
 
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon Serrano pepper, minced
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
3 tablespoons brown sesame seeds
3 tablespoons shredded coconut
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon zest
 
1. Combine the above ingredients in a large, heavy bottom pot.
 
2. Turn heat on medium low and gently heat to bloom out and slightly toast the mixture—you want to heat the ingredients until they are aromatic and slightly simmering, add the polenta, and then follow with the water. 
 
2 cups polenta, rinsed in a fine mesh strainer (this removes unwanted starch from the corn fragments)
8 cups water (I preferred to use reverse osmosis water)
2 teaspoons sea salt
3 tablespoons smoky paprika powder 
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper (grind it fresh for this recipe)
1 tablespoon sage, finely chopped
1 tablespoon oregano, finely chopped
1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped
2 tablespoons +_ to coat a glass dish to cool the polenta, and 3 tablespoons to roast the polenta in step 12 
 
3. Constantly stir the polenta on medium-high heat until it comes to a simmer, then turn it down to low. You really need to stir it consistely, like every 1-3 minutes at this phase, or you might burn the polenta to the bottom of the pan. 
 
4. Add in the smoky paprika, sea salt, and black pepper and stir until all of the ingredients are evenly dispersed. 
 
5. Throughout the cooking process, you need to stir polenta, so do not wander too far from the stove for more 2-4 minutes. See the video here for a demonstration on how to stir the polenta: https://youtu.be/FRrB8AT89lY
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6. After about an hour of cooking, add in the herbs. 
 
7. Cook the polenta for about 1.5 hours total. Taste the polenta to ensure that there are no hard corn fragments; if there are hard fragments, continue to cook the polenta until they are slightly soft. 
 
8. Spread a thin layer of olive oil on the base and sides of a large, preferably rectangular, glass baking dish. Then scoop the polenta out into the baking dish and spread it evenly against the dish. If you do not have a large baking dish, divide the polenta into small glass dishes, but aim for about 2 inches of height for the polenta in each pan. 
 
9. Refrigerate the polenta overnight so that it forms into a solid mass. 
 
10. The next day or so, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 
 
11. With a sharp knife, cut the polenta in the baking dish into about 20 small rectangular pieces. This recipe yields a significant amount of polenta, so decide how much you want to cook and you can always use the rest for another meal later in the week. 
 
12. Place the polenta cakes in a well-oiled baking dish. The amount of oil you use will depend on how many polenta cakes you cook and the size of the dish, but aim for a shallow fry that covers about a ¼ of each cake. Place the polenta cakes in the oven.
 
13. Cook the polenta cakes on eachside for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Start cooking the cakes with the side that was in contact with the baking dish in the refrigerator facing upwards and the other facing up: this will help dry out the moister side before you fry it.  
 
14. Once the cakes are browned, place them briefly on a paper towel to drain the oil, and then plate. Garnish with fresh herbs, such as basil, parsley, or chive.