Sea scallops with chanterelles and Sherry, Champagne risotto, and roasted Brussels sprouts

Now, don't get me wrong; I love slaving away all day on terribly over-complicated and tedious recipes, but special little weeknight meals are my favorites. The speed with which they get on the table is due to simple but sophisticated flavor combinations and quick cooking techniques not employed because they are simple and quick, but because they cannot be improved upon with complication.

The recipe is adapted (based on what I had around) from Suzanne Goin's beautiful and much-blogged-about cookbook Sunday Suppers at Lucques. Although this is only the second time I've cooked from it (I made the yellow tomato gazpacho at the height of summer tomatoes and it was so good), I can't recommend it enough. The recipes are organized not only into lovely four course meals but also into seasons, based on what's typically available from a farmer's market that time of year. So cool. As much as I adore a scallop, the chanterelle mushrooms are the true stars of this dish. I found these gorgeous blue-foot chanterelles at Central Market for the bargain price of $40 a pound. [To minimize the choking risk, I suggest you resist sharing this fact with your husband after he mentions how delicious they are. Fortunately, it dislodged quickly and dinner resumed.] Fear not, you only need 6 or 7 bucks worth for this dish.

Fresh pea and bacon risotto

This is a salute to the noble English pea. Out of respect, I refrained from taking pictures of any other ingredients. You know what raw bacon and rice look like, right? Use your imaginations. The peas were just too pretty to look at anything else.

The presence of fresh peas snuggled in their cute little shells is my official notification that Spring is here. I've planted some in the garden and I really hope they take off because I just love them. Peas are one of the few vegetables that are generally better frozen than fresh because of the high sugar content; they start losing their glorious sweet fresh flavor just hours after being picked as the sugar converts to starch (I had actually written "glorious sweet fresh pea-ness" but then I said it aloud... Backspacebackspacebackspace.) But if you can get fresh ones very very close to the vine, there is nothing better.