Well, as the week winds down, I wanted to enjoy a nice dinner with my muse, so after a failed trip fishing in the morning, I head to the market. Some nice looking bay scallops and small white shrimp seemed just the ticket. I had some fennel bulb left over from the Moroccan shrimp, so I decided to grab a couple of lemons and make a broth. A can of artichoke hearts, and some perfect pencil sized asparagus rounded out the dish.

As normal, angel hair pasta is the de facto pasta around my home, and, as normal, I like to get the water going right away, as I will use the same water to blanch the asparagus as well as cook the pasta. This asparagus is so tender and thin, it could actually skip the blanching, but since I want to make things quick, I'll give a quick trip to the boiling water anyway.To make the lemon fennel broth, I zest 2 lemons (for those not familiar with "zesting" a handy tool can be used, that only scrapes the yellow rind, leaving the white pith behind. The "zest" is where all the oils are that hold the flavor. A sharp vegetable peeler can also be used to take the zest off the lemon. Since we are making a broth, and will be discarding the solids, nothing else needs to be done if using a peeler. Other preparations, the peel may need to be then to be cut into thin strips or minced.) Anyway, zest the 2 lemons, and cut one in half and squeeze the juice into the sauce pan. Add the two halves as well as the zest. Cut up the fennel bulb (I had the remaining half left from my dinner earlier in the week) and add to the pan along the tops. I also added a little onion and a bay leaf. Cover with water, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.

For the main dish, I simply cut the artichoke hearts into eighths, and sauteed them with a little onion and garlic. As the onion gets a little color, add the shrimp and cut up asparagus, and saute a minute longer. The shrimp were smaller, so they only need a few minutes, like wise, the tiny bay scallops cook quite quickly, so add them just at the end. Strain the broth directly into the seafood to deglaze, and add a couple of pats of butter. To finish, I had reserved a few stalks of asparagus for garnish, and sliced the remaining lemon. Ladle the seafood and broth over the pasta in a shallow wide bowl, garnish, and enjoy. A big glass of crisp stainless fermented Chardonnay could easily round out the meal.