Frozen scallops, mussels, and other seafood like softshell crabs and prawns are now increasingly available in the supermarket. Back in the day, these food items are a novelty and is reserved for a few. But now, places like S&R carry these frozen seafood products. I usually see brands like Pacific Bay and after some research on Facebook, learned that this brand is under MIDA Food.
MIDA Food has been the leading distributor in the Philippine seafood industry for 20 years. For the home cooks like us, MIDA Food developed the Pacific Bay brand offers freshly-packed seafood items, like peeled & deveined shrimp, tuna belly, tuna steaks, scallop meat, salmon steaks, whole clams, crabstick, and cream dory fillet, as well as Atlantic cod portions, bacalao loins, Chilean seabass, softshell crab, Gindara steaks and halibut fillet and steaks.
While all of those sound intimidating at first, they are actually simple to prepare. Here’s my first time cooking scallops and mussels from MIDA Food.
Easy Scallop Pasta with Malunggay by Mommy Lace
- Frozen scallops (10 pcs. or any quantity preferred)
- Olive oil (3 tbsp)
- Butter (1 tbsp)
- Garlic (as little or many as you want)
- Spaghetti or any kind of long or curly pasta. I used angel hair pasta in this recipe. (480 grams)
- All-purpose cream (1 tetra pack or 250ml)
- Malunggay leaves
- Salt & pepper to taste
Cook pasta according to package instructions, but reduce cooking time by 2-3 minutes. Set aside. Heat pan, make sure it’s very hot before adding olive oil and butter. Sear the scallops one side first for 5 minutes each side. Reduce heat. Add the garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Add all-purpose cream, malunggay leaves, stir, and quickly add the pasta noodles before turning off the heat.
Easy & Simple Baked Mussels or Tahong by Mommy Lace
- Frozen, one shell green mussels
- Garlic
- Melted butter
- Grated processed cheese – I just use local brand cheese
- Pepper to taste
Line green mussels on a tray. Using a teaspoon, sprinkle each with melted cheese. Top each with garlic and grated cheese. Sprinkle pepper as desired. Bake in turbo broiler or convection oven at 375F for 15 minutes, checking every now and then.
Oh diba? Kayang- kaya! I thought only restaurants could serve these dishes. Note it was my first time preparing these recipes, I even made a twist by adding malunggay to the scallop pasta and made the baked mussels more economical by using ordinary cheese!
It’s very easy because the seafood I used were already cleaned, prepared, and ready to cook. Of course, don’t forget to properly thaw the frozen seafood. I take them out of the freezer 2-3 hours before cooking or move them from the freezer to the refrigerator overnight.
Happy cooking Mommy!
