Hands Down, My Favorite Recipe from Last Fall

Last fall I discovered the following recipe on Rachael Ray's television show 30 Minute Meals. Rachael's recipes are usually either hit or miss, and her style can be a bit, um, eclectic. This is one of those eclectic recipes. Pumpkin, peanut butter and scallops? It almost seems like a mistake! But Max and I both thought the dish was fantastic (and yes, very "different"). I just couldn't get enough of it last year and have been waiting patiently since then for autumn when I could legitimately break out the pumpkin recipes again (which I did last night!).

Pumpkin-Peanut Curry Noodles with Five-Spice Seared Scallops and Shrimp

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 20 min

Level: -- Easy

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti

Salt

5 tablespoons vegetable oil or peanut oil

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 inches ginger root, minced or grated

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 to 1/3 cup tamari dark soy sauce, eyeball it

1 (15-ounce) can cooked pumpkin

2 rounded tablespoonfuls mild or hot curry paste (recommended: Patak's)

3 tablespoons five-spice powder

12 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

12 diver scallops, trimmed and patted dry

4 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces, then thinly sliced lengthwise into matchsticks

Directions

Heat a large pot of water for noodles. When water boils, salt it and add pasta to cook to al dente or with a bite to it.

While pasta cooks, heat a large, deep skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil. Add garlic, ginger, red bell pepper, and pepper flakes to the pan and cook together a couple of minutes, then add peanut butter and melt it. Whisk soy into peanut butter, then stir in pumpkin and curry paste. The sauce will be very thick. Turn down the heat to low. Add a ladle or 2 of pasta cooking water to thin sauce a bit and simmer over low heat. Adjust salt, to taste.

Heat a small to medium skillet over high heat. Pour the five-spice powder onto a plate with some salt. Press both sides of the shrimp and scallops into the powder. Add 3 tablespoons of remaining oil to hot skillet. Place the shrimp in the pan and cook 1 minute, flip and sear the other side until just opaque. Remove shrimp to a plate and set aside. Add another 3 tablespoons of oil to the skillet and heat back up to smoking. Add the scallops and sear on both sides until opaque. Remove scallops and add to the plate of shrimp.

Drain pasta and return pasta to the pot. Add the curry-pumpkin sauce and toss thoroughly. Serve noodles on 4 plates and top with scallions and seafood.