Despite our pizza plans, L. wanted scallops as an appetizer because we had recently invested in blue licorice and he thought the two flavors would marry well. They did indeed, via the medium of a blue licorice beurre blanc -a sauce L. loves but had never made before. It was a delicious dish and L. is free to make it any time he wants especially now that he has seen how simple it is to assemble.
I happened to have some colossal shrimp left as well, which really are as huge as the name implies, so we decided to have those as our pre-appetizer course cooked until glossy with a tiny bit of butter, a little lemon juice and Maldon salt. The 2 cats went crazy, with so many high-pitched miews and trilling, that they each got a half a teaspoon of the chopped up shrimp as a treat.
Anyway, baby's first beurre blanc is a young cook's culinary milestone, especially since L. decided to jazz it up with an herb rather than sticking with the classics.
We then decided to take a three hour break before pizza...