Those of you who were Girl Scouts probably remember the foil
pack meals they used to serve at camp. In my case, the one, lone, foil-pack
meal that I got at my Weekend-that-Seemed-Like-a-Month-Long-Camp-from-Hell, was
the best thing I’d eaten in days. I'm not saying the food was bad mind you, it
just all seemed to go horribly wrong. Like the big pot of tomato soup with
"dumplings," that ended up being a big pot of tomato soup with raw, elastic-y
biscuit dough floating around in it. For dessert, we melted butterscotch
candies and spread the gooey mass on toast. Yeah, that was the kind of camp I
went to. But I'm wandering from my point, which is mainly to talk about foil
pack meals.
These were clever meals, I thought -- a square of heavy duty foil was filled with a seasoned raw hamburger patty, thin slices of russet potato, and an assortment of vegetables. It was folded up tightly, poked with a fork to vent, and put on the campfire. Maybe it was because I was desperately hungry after days of avoiding the Scout Camp food, but I always thought these were pretty good.
Well, my friends, foil pack meals are back. Naturally they're a lot fancier now than they were in my Girl Scout days, not to mention more varied in ingredients. I was intrigued by a foil pack meal that I read about recently that featured scallops. A huge fan, I just happened to have scallops on hand, and was wondering what to do with them. So I set about creating my own foil pack meal. It was absolutely delicious! Not only that, but it was company worthy, and can be made ahead and kept in the fridge to be grilled or baked at a later time. What this means is that you can serve your company a delicious fresh scallop meal, and have everything done ahead of time. All you have to do when people arrive is pop these onto a preheated grilled, or slide them into a preheated oven, and have a cocktail while waiting for an absolutely delicious meal. Yes folks, foil pack meals are now company worthy. I suggest you serve this with a light, fruity side salad, a bottle of dry white wine, and crusty bread. This yields such a delicious sauce that you're going to want to mop every bit of it up with that bread.
These were clever meals, I thought -- a square of heavy duty foil was filled with a seasoned raw hamburger patty, thin slices of russet potato, and an assortment of vegetables. It was folded up tightly, poked with a fork to vent, and put on the campfire. Maybe it was because I was desperately hungry after days of avoiding the Scout Camp food, but I always thought these were pretty good.
Well, my friends, foil pack meals are back. Naturally they're a lot fancier now than they were in my Girl Scout days, not to mention more varied in ingredients. I was intrigued by a foil pack meal that I read about recently that featured scallops. A huge fan, I just happened to have scallops on hand, and was wondering what to do with them. So I set about creating my own foil pack meal. It was absolutely delicious! Not only that, but it was company worthy, and can be made ahead and kept in the fridge to be grilled or baked at a later time. What this means is that you can serve your company a delicious fresh scallop meal, and have everything done ahead of time. All you have to do when people arrive is pop these onto a preheated grilled, or slide them into a preheated oven, and have a cocktail while waiting for an absolutely delicious meal. Yes folks, foil pack meals are now company worthy. I suggest you serve this with a light, fruity side salad, a bottle of dry white wine, and crusty bread. This yields such a delicious sauce that you're going to want to mop every bit of it up with that bread.
You have to give this a try; you will love both ease and
deliciousness. 
Scallops & Spinach Foil Pack
Makes 1
1 handful fresh, baby spinach*
4-5 scallops
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
3 large mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon capers
1/2 teaspoon Melissa's chopped garlic
Juice of half a medium lemon
1 lemon slice, halved
1 teaspoon butter
Makes 1
1 handful fresh, baby spinach*
4-5 scallops
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
3 large mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon capers
1/2 teaspoon Melissa's chopped garlic
Juice of half a medium lemon
1 lemon slice, halved
1 teaspoon butter
Layer ingredients in order listed onto a 12" x 12"
square of heavy-duty foil. Fold up and seal tightly; vent by making two slits with a paring
knife. Place on grill over medium coals (or gas setting), and bake for 12-15
minutes. To bake indoors, set oven to 375°F and bake 20 minutes.
*I have the hands of a quarterback, so you might want to use 1
cup, packed
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wow! you sold me on this meal! It sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I don't have any recollection of the food from my Girl Scout Campfire weekend. I remember the rainy weather and all my clothes, sleeping bag etc getting soaked.
We were supposed to make a tent but my group couldn't do it and it kept collapsing, so we got soaked in the 3 days of non stop rain. What a weekend that was!
I was not a girl scout, but I did make some foil dinners in the late 1980s like the hamburger ones you described. I thought they were good, but my family was just lukewarm on them. Never thought about putting scallops in a foil pack - looks delicious Pattie! Love the idea of "sopping" up the sauce with crusty bread - yum!
ReplyDeleteKind of tough to find good scallops here. You're lucky!
ReplyDelete