Romantic Dinner?… Hungary!

I had absolutely no romantic thoughts when I started this dish, but as it came together I realized that it would be an excellent dinner for a romantic evening, light some candles, a little wine, some Michael Bublé playing in the background… *sigh*

Hungary, officially the Republic of Hungary is located in Central Europe. Bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. It’s capital is Budapest. The official language is Hungarian and one of the four official languages of the European Union that is not of Indo-European origin.

Interesting Facts:
- Hungary is home to the largest thermal water cave system and the second largest thermal lake in the world.
- The Huns, under Attila the Hun, built a powerful empire in Hungary at the end of the 4th century after the rule of the Roman Empire.

Recipe: Linguine and Scallops in Hot Paprika Sauce
1 pound scallops
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons green onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 teaspoons virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/3 cup clam broth
3/4 cup nonfat cottage cheese
1/4 cup nonfat sour cream
1/4 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/8 teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika
salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces linguine

Directions: Saute scallops, garlic, and green onion in wine and 1 tsp of olive oil. Cook on high heat until liquid evaporates, stirring a few times to cook scallops through. Sprinkle with basil and remove to a plate.
In same pan, add remaining tsp of the olive oil and mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in clam broth simmer 2 more minutes.
Put cottage cheese in a blender and blend until smooth.
Add sour cream and blend again. Add the milk and paprika and blend once more.
Pour mixture into the pan with mushrooms. Add scallops and warm over very low heat until mixture is warmed through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, bring water to a boil, add pasta, and cook until al dente. Drain and place in a large serving bowl. Pour sauce over pasta, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Notes: 1 lb of scallops is 453.59 grams. Where I live is quite difficult to find fresh seafood but was able to find the next best thing. Some of the ingredients were hard or impossible to find here. So, in case you have the same problem:
*Clam broth, I substituded with shrimp or seafood broth. I got some buillon cubes and mixed the broth from there.
*Sweet Hungarian Paprika = Regular Paprika
*Hot Hungarian Paprika, you can use chili powder. Not exactly the same but an adequate substitute.
*Dry white wine… actually not hard to find but didn’t want to go out and buy a bottle so I used Chardonnay. It tasted good nonetheless.
*I used freeze dried garlic. I don’t use a lot of garlic in my cooking, especially since I usually only cook for myself. So I got a little bottle of the freeze dried stuff. I find it to be quite good.

VERDICT: This was really good. It does seem like an Italian dish because of the linguine but the taste is very Hungarian. Like I said, it would be a great dish to have for a romantic dinner. It was a sweet & spicy flavour that is hard to describe. Not overpowering at all and it was a light flavour. Even my sister, the picky eater of the family, liked it a lot. Serve with a nice green salad and white wine. Delish!