Free Have Blade Will Travel: The adventures of a traveling chef by David Paul Larousse Page B

seasoning
salt, white pepper, and paprika as needed
For the scrod
4 – 8-ounce fillets of fresh scrod
melted butter as needed
the juice of one lemon
salt, white pepper, and paprika as needed
     
Preheat an oven to 375-degrees F (190-degrees C).
    To prepare the stuffing
     
Combine all of the stuffing ingredients in a bowl and blend.  Add additional butter as needed. Season to taste.
    To prepare the dish
     
Brush the scrod fillets with the melted butter and place a heaping tablespoon of stuffing on one end of the fillet.  Roll up, and place into a shallow baking dish.  Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt, white pepper, and a light dusting of paprika.
Place in the oven and bake for 12-to-15 minutes, or until the fish flakes when a fork is gently inserted.
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Baked Stuffed Shrimp   (Serves 4)
24 U-12 shrimp, peeled and de-veined (U-12 = under 12 shrimp per pound)
melted butter as needed
1 cup (240 mL) stuffing (See recipe for Baked Stuffed Scrod above)
the juice of one lemon
salt and white pepper to taste
     
Preheat an oven to 375-degrees F (190-degrees C).
Take approximately 1 heaping tablespoon (20 mL) of stuffing, and press it into the inside curved space of each shrimp.  Arrange six stuffed shrimp in each of four individual, shallow, oven-proof casserole dishes.
Drizzle with melted butter, a little lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Bake 15 minutes and serve.
    ― ● ―  
Baked Stuffed Scallops     (Serves 4)
2 pounds (1 kg) fresh or frozen sea scallops
melted butter as needed
1 cup (240 mL) stuffing (See recipe for Baked Stuffed Scrod above)
the juice of one lemon
salt, white pepper, and paprika as needed
1 stuffing recipe 
     
Preheat an oven to 375-degrees F (190-degrees C).
Place a 4-ounce (120 mL) scoop of stuffing into the center of each of four individual oven-proof casserole dishes and press the stuffing down.
Arrange ½-pound (¼ kg) of scallops (six-to-seven-each, depending upon the size) on top of each portion of stuffing.  Top liberally with melted butter, lemon juice, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Bake for 10 minutes and serve. 
    ― ● ―  
    Around the corner in the pantry station, Richard prepared most of the cold food items on the menu.  If he fell behind schedule, the chef sometimes sent me over to help him.  Though he had a helper on the busiest nights, he still had to set up all the small dinner salads that were included with every main course.  Nothing fancy, just some chunks of Iceberg Lettuce tossed into a cheap, pressed-wood bowl, topped with a slice of cucumber, a wedge of tomato, and a pitted, canned black olive – the kind of salad that wouldn’t stand a chance in most restaurants nowadays.  Still, on busy nights, the restaurant would need as many as six-hundred of them.  The other items the pantry was responsible for were shrimp cocktail, oysters and clams on the half shell, plus all the desserts.
    One afternoon, with the pork-for-veal scandal still fresh in my mind, I observed Richard pouring a viscous white liquid from a large, aluminum-foil-wrapped can into the bowl of a large mixer.  Into that he poured part of a #10-can of “Murray’s-brand” chocolate fudge topping, followed by a cup of cheap kitchen brandy.  I walked over and asked, “What’s that?”
    “That’s Chocolate Mousse.”
    “You’re kidding.  Chocolate Mousse?  What’s that white stuff?”
    “That’s Rich’s non-dairy commercial topping base.  I just whip it up in the mixer, and it looks and tastes just like whipped cream.  I think it is rather pretty, myself.  It glows in the dark.”
    Richard was being sarcastic, but he knew as well as I did that this was pure garbage, not fit for man nor beast.  Non-dairy topping is about as close as one can get to a non-food, this side of margarine.  I wondered what other unscrupulous acts this kitchen operation was involved in, besides mock-veal and non-dairy mousse.  Such practices were contrary to everything I had