Shrimp Pasta

Have you been missing a new recipe??  Sorry, ya'll know that summer is kinda my "me" time and even though I'm cooking, I'm slow on posting.  At any rate, let's get this party started. 

 

A friend of mine posted a recipe for shrimp that involved butter, lemons, seasoning and an oven that I thought looked interesting.  I couldn't find the actual post when I decided to make it but I'm pretty certain the shrimp are close.  I further decided that tossing the shrimp with pasta and vegetables would make a a nice summer dinner so that's what I did. 

 

"Best Shrimp EVER", was posted after the recipe by several people and although these are good, "best shrimp ever" is a bit much for this recipe.  I'm thinking those people haven't had really FRESH shrimp prepared correctly;)

 

What you'll need:

 

2 Lemons

1 lb Bag of Large Fresh Shrimp ~ they are typically deveined and ready to go ~ If you go the frozen route, make sure you defrost

1 stick of Butter

2 t Old Bay Seasoning

2 t Italian Seasoning

2 t Garlic Powder

1 t Cayenne Pepper ~ optional

 

Bunch of Asparagus snapped into pieces

4 cloves Garlic minced

1/4-1/3 C Olive Oil

1 can Petite Diced Tomatoes ~ I'd use the ones with green chili's next time but I like heat

1/2 t Cayenne Pepper or 1-2 t Red Pepper Flakes

Salt and Pepper to taste

3/4 C Asiago Cheese or Romano or Parmesan or Feta ~ pick your fav

3/4 box (smaller box) of Thin Spaghetti

4 Chicken Bouillon Cubes

 

While slicing your lemons, melt your butter on a cookie sheet with an edge.  When the butter is melted, throw your lemon on the pan and put shrimp on top of lemon.  Mix your seasoning together and sprinkle on the shrimp.  Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes.  They're done if they're curled into a C and have turned pink.

 

Heat the olive oil and throw your garlic in.  Stir around quick to flavor the oil.  Toss in the diced tomatoes and red pepper flakes.  You're just basically getting this hot and ready for the shrimp and pasta.

 

Get your water bowling with the bouillon cubes.  Toss in pasta, stir.  Throw your asparagus in when the pasta is almost done, it only needs a minute or two.  Drain all and toss into the tomato mixture.  Discard lemons from pan and dump the shrimp and butter into the pasta.  Season with salt and pepper.  Throw your favorite cheese on and give it a toss.  Dinner is served.

 

 



Crab & Shrimp Boil

I just had a conversation with someone that I couldn't remember the last time I had a meal that I was over the top about. Well, this meal was OMG over the top, it was delicious!!

I've been wanting to do one of these for awhile so I planned it for our girls weekend. I asked my cousin Barb and her husband Steve who have lived in New Orleans for years if they had any tips and they hooked me up. Thanks guys!!

I didn't take any photos as I was making it because I was at the cabin and enjoying my sangria while it came together but I think the step by step written directions will suit you fine.

What you'll need:

A pot that will hold 3 gallons of water or more

1 3/4 gallons of water ~ I bought the gallon jugs so I didn't start with cold water to get it to boiling faster
2 packages of Zatarain's Crab boil
8 T Salt
1 T Cayenne Pepper
2 Lemons quartered
1 bulb of Garlic pulled apart ~ remove the flaky skin but leave the cloves intact
1 Onion sliced
2 dozen Baby Red Potatoes washed
1 lb of Shrimp ~ I used frozen that were thawed and without shell
4 ears of Corn on the Cob
2 lbs of Crab thawed ~ I used King Crab because it was on sale
Stick of Butter melted with 1 t of garlic powder
Loaf of crusty french bread

Put your water, zatarain's,
Cayenne pepper, lemons, garlic, onions and baby reds in the pot and cover. Bring to a steady boil.

Add shrimp and cook for about 5 minutes or until they turn pink. Remove shrimp from pot. It would have been helpful to have a basket that I dropped in with the shrimp but we were at the cabin and working with what I had on hand. Steve told me to do the shrimp first because they would absorb a lot of flavor that way and he was right.

Add corn and crab, cover pot and boil 8 minutes. Scoop out the garlic, potatoes, corn and crab or if you have a colander large enough, strain in that.

Dump the shrimp out onto newspaper covered with brown paper bag, toss the rest of the stuff on top and serve with garlic butter.

You can squeeze the garlic cloves onto crusty french bread and dunk in garlic butter for an OVER the top garlic bread.

Everything was seasoned perfectly. The corn didn't need even need butter. Eat your way through the pile. It was seriously YUMMY! This pile served 4 women:)

Shrimp Pasta

Don't you just love when you've got your tastebuds set on something and you are successful at making it! That happened last week and the bonus...the next day Dylan asked me to make it again.

It's kind of a take on a Parmarosa Pasta I had years ago. Alanna was my original guinea pig and she liked it too.

What you'll need:

1 lb of Shrimp ~ I used raw frozen but you could easily make this with pre-cooked
Drizzle of Olive Oil ~ couple teaspoons
3 cloves Garlic minced
1 can petite diced Tomatoes with Green Chilis drained
1 Jalapeno minced and seeds taken out
1/2 C Heavy Cream ~ I used Whipping Cream
1/2 C Half and Half ~ I used Fat Free
SIDEBAR...the second time I made it I used a can of fat free Evaporated Milk
instead of the Half and Half and Cream and although it wasn't quite as rich, it
was still really good.
1-2 t Basil ~ Fresh would have been awesome but I only had dried
1 t Salt
1 t Cayenne
1 t Black Pepper
1/2 C Parmesan ~ Fresh and Shredded
1 small box Thin Spaghetti cooked

Start a pot of water with a sprinkle of salt to boil. When water is boiling, cook pasta until it is cooked, about 7 minutes. Drain, rinse and set aside.

Heat your olive oil and garlic for a minute. Toss in your shrimp and jalapeno. Cook until shrimp turn pink, about 3 minutes.

Remove shrimp, try to leave the jalapeno and garlic and add diced tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes to blend flavors. Add heavy cream, half and half, Basil, salt, cayenne and black pepper and let it slow simmer for a few minutes. Stir in cheese. Add cooked pasta and toss with sauce. Serves 4-5

Mince your jalapeno
Let's get the party started with some garlic and Olive Oil
Saute the shrimp, remove from pan and start sauce.
Add the cream and half and half to the diced tomatoes
Simmer the sauce for a minute
Toss your pasta in
Dinner is served

Fridge Cleaning Dinner

I needed something quick and I will admit that I had absolutely NO vision when I started pulling stuff out of the fridge. I only knew that I was starving so I wanted quick and easy. This is what I ended up with.

What you'll need:
1 boneless skinless Chicken breast
1 C Chicken Broth
1 C cooked Orzo ~ Orzo is a pasta that you'll find by all the other pasta in a small box
1/2 lb cooked Shrimp
1/2 bag baby Spinach

Slice chicken into small pieces and pan fry dry (that means I didn't add any kind of oil or butter, just threw it in the pan) with salt, pepper and Lemon Garlic Pepper. Pour in chicken broth and bring to boil. Scrape the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, it will add some flavor. Add Spinach, shrimp and Orzo. Sprinkle with Lemon garlic Pepper and cook until spinach is wilted and it's heated through. Makes 2-3 servings.

Shrimp Sauce

I love having people over for dinner because I get to cook things that "I" like to eat. I get to make things a little fancier, a little spicier or I just get to make stuff that adults like to eat. Since I'm not much of a left over person, although I'm getting better..having dinner guests is the best thing ever because I can try new recipes and won't be eating it for a week after.

So, that brings me to the next 5 posts...If you've ever eaten at Benihana, I'm sure you've left there with some empty pockets and wishing you could make some of it at home. Well, I made my attempt the other night and the kids and my guests enjoyed it. My son who has NEVER in his life eaten a leftover, ate the leftover Teriyaki beef and rice with shrimp sauce.

The shrimp sauce, in our opinion, makes the meal. So, I've been looking for the recipe for years. Tried a few and they were ok but not spot on. This recipe is as close as I've found when I took out the extra salt. My kids were THRILLED. So, I'll start with my favorite and then post each part of the meal separately.

2 C Mayonnaise
1/2 C Water
2 t Sugar
1 T garlic juice ~ found by the spices
3/4 t Ketchup
1 t ground Ginger
1 t Hot Sauce
1 t dry Mustard
1 t Paprika
3/4 t White Pepper

Whisk together and chill.
Sorry, the photo is dark because when I took it with a flash, it was too white..can't win. It's a very light salmon color.
Here is a photo of all the meats and vegetables done and ready to serve. Follow the posts below to learn how to make this fun dinner or just pick and choose the ones you want to try, it's all good. AND, did I mention that all of the prep work can be done hours before so all you need to do is cook it up when you're ready. You'll need a few pans but if you have to or you can rinse and go. Start with the rice, when it's done, cover and move to the steak and chicken. You can cook those at the same time, I have faith, start your vegetables. Now, go to the shrimp. Take a deep breath and enjoy your dinner.

Shrimp Benihana Style

All you need is a clean pan to make these simple shrimp.

2 lbs fresh Shrimp ~ take the shells and tails off
3-4 T Butter
1 t Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Melt your butter over low heat. Turn the heat up to about a 6 and throw your shrimp in. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Flip them around, cooking all sides. They should pink up and be done fairly quick, about 4 minutes.
Sorry, all I have for this post is a photo of how to get the shells and tails off. They should peel off easily and the tail needs a little pinch and a pull. See the finished product under the shrimp sauce post.

Fridge Cleaning Stir Fry

We've all had stuff in our fridge, a little of this, a little of that and vegetables that didn't make it to the dinner table. When my fridge starts to look like that, I make Fridge Cleaning Stir Fry. The ingredients can be whatever, this just happens to be what's in mine but feel free to use whatever you have or like..it's all good. I went high on my points for this because I couldn't find the value of broth...23 points for the entire pan!

Also, if you don't have a wok or a wok pan, don't let that stop you. You can use a large pot, one that you would cook pasta in. When I'm making stir fry, I cook my pasta with a couple of chicken bouillon cubes to give the pasta a bit of flavor.
Here's what I had this time. 1 Chicken Breast, 1 C crab legs, 1 1/2 C Shrimp, 2 Handful of cooked thin spaghetti, Zucchini, Green Pepper, Red Pepper, Orange Pepper, Small handful of Sugar Snap Peas, Asparagus, Celery Stalk, Onion and Garlic
Cut all the vegetables up into relatively the same size. Chop Chicken breast and Crab Legs. Make yourself 1 C of Chicken Stock (1 C water and 1 Chicken bouillon cube)
Start with a splash of Chicken Broth and add the vegetables that need to cook the longest. In this case; celery, onions and the garlic because you want it to season all the vegetables. Saute for about 2 minutes, adding 1t of your favorite seasoning. I used Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning.
Here's what the Greek Seasoning container looks like. It's great on anything from potatoes to eggs to meat to stir fry
Add a splash more chicken stock, asparagus, peas and 1 t Lemon Pepper with Garlic & Onion seasoning. Saute another 2 minutes
Here is the Lemon Pepper I use
Throw in the rest of the vegetables, 1 t Greek Seasoning and 1 t Garlic Powder (I never use Garlic Salt because I like to control how salty my stir fry is). Splash of Chicken Broth if it's looking dry. Saute about 2 minutes or until the vegetables are to your desired doneness. If you like "soft" vegetables, add a splash of chicken broth and cover for a minute or two. I skip this step because I like mine a bit on the crunchy side.
Throw in the meat last, remember it was all left over and already cooked so you just want to get it warm about a minute or two. Add 1 t Lemon Pepper and 1 T butter (I only use butter when I'm using seafood, seems to bring out the flavors, but that could just be in my head;)
Now toss in your pasta and 1 last teaspoon of Greek Seasoning. If you want it a bit zippier, throw in another teaspoon of Lemon Pepper. If you'd prefer, you can skip the pasta and serve over rice. Taste and add more seasoning if you think it needs it. Serve!! Healthy and Yummy!