TRIED AND… TASTY!

Posted in Pasta & Noodles, Seafood by sallybr

This recipe comes from “Closet Cooking” – I first printed it when I saw it on Kevin’s blog, and as usual, it sat on my pile of “soon to make” recipes, waiting and waiting. Then, a couple of weeks ago I learned that that the Closet Cooking blog will be featured in a net-event called “Tried and Tasted”, so it was the perfect opportunity to make the dish and join the party!

BAKED SHRIMP AND FETA PASTA
(adapted from Closet Cooking)

1 cup orzo
1 tablespoon oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh herbs (parsley, basil, mint… your choice!)
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup feta cheese (crumbled)

Cook the orzo in boiling water until al dente. Do not overcook.

Heat the oil in a pan, saute the shallots until translucent, add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and saute for 30 seconds more. Add the white wine, tomato and oregano, season with salt and pepper, and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the herbs and green onions. Mix the sauce, cooked orzo and shrimp, place them in a baking dish and top with the feta cheese. Bake in a 425F oven until the shrimp is cooked and the sauce is bubbly, about 15 minutes. If you want, run the dish quickly under the broiler before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Shrimp and feta are perfect together. I often make a similar dish, in which I saute the shrimp, add them to a baking dish with diced tomatoes, herbs, and sprinkle feta on top. However, I like Kevin’s approach better for two reasons: first, the shrimp is not sauteed beforehand, so it finishes with a more pleasant texture. Secondly, the addition of orzo makes this recipe a complete meal. We ate it with a simple salad.

The original recipe called for green onions and fresh herbs – I thought I had some green onions in the fridge, but I didn’t, so I skipped them. And, since I’m making this dish in December, I had no fresh herbs, so I used dried oregano and thyme instead. I’m sure that the dish will be even better when made as originally posted. 😉 …Give it a try!

As I mentioned before, I always soak the shrimp in a light brining solution before cooking, a trick learned from Chinese cookbooks that ensures a plumper texture. Since the only shrimp we have are frozen, this step makes a huge difference.

So, with this post I participate for the first time in the Tried and Tasted event, which was launched by Zlamushka in April 2008. You can read more about it by clicking here.

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4Dec2009

DINNER IN A HURRY

Posted in Pasta & Noodles, Seafood by sallybr

I made this in “desperation-mode”, when there was very little available in our fridge: a bunch of Swiss chard harvested from our garden, and a little over half a cup of tomato puree leftover from another recipe. All I needed was to defrost a bag of large shrimp, and a quick, tasty dinner arrived at the table!

FETUCCINE WITH SHRIMP, SWISS CHARD AND TOMATOES

dried fetuccine (enough for two)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
big bunch of Swiss chard
12-15 large shrimp
zest of a lemon
tomato puree
salt and pepper

Place a large pan with salted water to boil.

Shred the chard leaves after removing the central, tough stem. If you have extra time, dice the stems and start sauteing them a few minutes before adding the rest of the leaves; otherwise send them to your compost bin.

Heat the olive oil, add the diced shallots, cook for a couple of minutes, add the chard, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook in medium heat until it starts to get soft, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to high and add the shrimp. Cook until they turn opaque, add the tomato puree, lemon zest to taste, simmer a couple of minutes, adjusting the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente. Reserve a little of the pasta cooking water, drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the shrimp mixture. Simmer everything together to perform the beautiful marriage of sauce and pasta, adding some of the pasta cooking water if necessary.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Normally I don’t add Swiss chard to a tomato based sauce, but this worked so well, I intend to do it again. Amounts are all very flexible, of course. Most people will enjoy sauteing some garlic with the shallots, so go right ahead…

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10Nov2009

PASTA WITH ZUCCHINI STRANDS AND SHRIMP

Posted in Pasta & Noodles, Seafood by sallybr

The pasta of my childhood was all about the sauce, either a heavy red sauce, or an equally heavy white sauce, often loaded with cheese. I loved them both, and I still make slightly lighter versions every once in a while. But, over the past few years my taste buds gravitated more and more towards pasta with veggies. Now the sauce plays a secondary role, formed in part by a simple ladle of the pasta cooking water, full of the starch released during cooking.

The possibilities for this kind of dish are nearly endless. I’m fond of cutting zucchini to match long stranded pasta, like spaghetti or fettuccine. This recipe, which I threw together in minutes the other day, is perfect for weeknights: quick, simple to make, not too heavy, but substantial enough to leave you satisfied and happy at the end of a busy day.

PASTA WITH ZUCCHINI STRANDS AND SHRIMP

(serves two, amounts are pretty flexible)

dried spaghetti, fettuccine or any long strand pasta
12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2-3 medium size zucchini
1 shallot, finely diced
1 T olive oil
1/2 ounce goat cheese, crumbled
lemon zest
salt and pepper

Place a large pot with water to boil.

Prepare the zucchini by cutting off both ends and using a mandolin or food processor to cut it lengthwise into fine strands. Ideally, you want the dimensions of the zucchini to match the pasta, but don’t worry too much about it, just make sure to have long, even-sized strands.

When the water boils, add the pasta: while it cooks, heat a little olive oil in a large saute pan, add the diced shallot, season lightly with salt, and cook for a couple of minutes in medium heat. Add the shrimp and cook on both sides until opaque, do not overcook. Remove the shrimp to a plate and add the zucchini to the pan, increasing the heat to high. Season with a little salt and pepper, and when the zucchini cooks down return the shrimp to the pan. Cook it together with the zucchini for a minute.

When the pasta is cooked al dente, remove 1/2 cup of the cooking water and set aside; drain the pasta and add it to the zucchini/shrimp mixture. Add some of the pasta water to get the consistency you like, immediately sprinkle the goat cheese and mix everything gently to allow the cheese to slowly melt and incorporate into the dish. Right before serving sprinkle lemon zest on top of the pasta, and adjust seasoning if necessary.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Zucchini strands or ribbons are a busy cook’s best friends! If you have a food processor, it takes just seconds to cut, but if you prefer not to deal with washing the processor, a mandolin or a box grater, which is what I used, works well too.

The amounts are flexible: the higher the proportion of zucchini, the lighter the dish will be. It’s is a wonderful way of “stretching” the pasta, by shaving off some calories without compromising flavor.

I like the combination of goat cheese with zucchini and shrimp. Some people find that seafood and cheese don’t go well together, but in this case I beg to differ.

You can make many variations on this basic dish – omit the shrimp, add black olives, sun dried tomatoes, fresh herbs such as oregano, mint, or basil. Zucchini is very “social”, enjoys playing with all sorts of flavors, so let’s profit from it 😉

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2Oct2009

SIMPLY ELEGANT: SALMON CURRY

Posted in Celebrate Wednesday, Seafood by sallybr

Here’s a very popular dish from the restaurant “Terra” in Napa Valley, another recipe from the “Secrets of Success” by Michael Bauer.

If you are looking for a dish to impress your friends, your in-laws, or that special someone having dinner at your place for the first time… this is it! The kind of food that gives a pause of satisfaction after the first bite, a meal that you’d expect from a first-rate restaurant, but instead… you made it yourself! … And it wasn’t even hard! An impressive concoction that you can definitely bring to the table on a weeknight after a hard day at work… A “Celebrate Wednesday” kind of deal. 😉

Everything in this dish is balanced, a contrast of flavors and textures: the subtle heat of the curry, the freshness of the salad, the silkiness of the sauce on the crunchiness of the cabbage and peanuts, and luscious salmon as the centerpiece! It’s a symphony for your tastebuds. Try it, and I’m sure you’ll make it again.

SALMON WITH THAI RED CURRY SAUCE and CABBAGE SALAD
(from Terra restaurant, recipe published in M. Bauer’s Secrets of Success)

(receita em portugues na segunda pagina)

for the curry sauce:
2 tsp peanut oil
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 tsp coriander seeds, cracked
1 1/2 tsp curry powder (I used mild curry, from Penzey’s spices)
1 1/2 tsp Thai red curry paste
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
3 Tbs tomato puree
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1.5 Tbs firmly packed brown sugar

for the cabbage salad:
2 cups very thinly sliced cabbage (red or green)
1/3 cup julienned cucumber
2 T fresh cilantro
2 T fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar

4 pieces of Atlantic king salmon filet (6 oz each)
1 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper

roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

cooked white rice

Make the sauce… (you can make it the day before if you prefer)
Heat the oil and saute the garlic and ginger until it is just beginning to get golden. Remove the pan from the heat and add the coriander seeds, curry paste and powder, paprika, and ground cumin. On low heat, saute for a couple of minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, tomato puree, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Increase the heat and bring it almost to boiling, and then remove it from the heat. Keep warm or gently reheat if it was refrigerated. Sauces containing coconut milk should not be boiled, as they tend to separate.

Make the salad…
Mix the cabbage with all other ingredients in a large bowl. Add the soy sauce and vinegar, toss well. Reserve until serving. (I like to do it 30 minutes in advance, if possible).

Cook the salmon…
Brush the salmon fillets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill to your liking, but salmon is best cooked medium, for a thick filet about 4-5 minutes per side on a hot grill. You can also cook it on the stove, making sure it is still translucent in the center.

Assemble the dish….
Place rice in the center of the plate. Ladle 1/2 cup of sauce around it, place the salmon on top or next to it. Top each fillet with a tall mound of the cabbage. Sprinkle the sauce with roasted peanuts.

Enjoy the compliments!

(to print the recipe, click here.)

Comments: Please don’t be put off by the number of ingredients. This is a very simple dish to prepare, and if you want to make it even easier, get the sauce ready the day before. It’s a good idea to make more than called for, because it is wonderful. Try it on seared sea scallops, on grilled shrimp, or even pork tenderloin, they all go quite well with it.

I have made this dish with red, green, and also with napa cabbage. In general, I am very fond of napa cabbage, but this dish calls for a little more crunch, and Napa doesn’t deliver the same snap. Try them all yourself, and pick your own favorite.

If I ever make it to Terra, I’m definitely ordering this dish!

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19Aug2009

Greens + Grapefruit + Shrimp = Great Salad!

Posted in Salads, Seafood by sallybr

This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks: Secrets of Success, by Michael Bauer, who is a restaurant critic for “The San Francisco Chronicle”. In this wonderful book, we encounter 300 recipes of “signature dishes” from San Francisco restaurants. More than providing the recipe, he shares little secrets used by the chefs: small details that often mean the difference between a good and a great meal.

At some point in my life (ca. 1989) I left my heart in the Bay Area, 😉 so buying this book and cooking from it was a nice way to fight my withdrawal symptoms.

This recipe comes from chef Fabrizio Laudati (owner of an Italian restaurant called Panta Rei). It was offered as an appetizer in his previous restaurant, Baraonda, that no longer exists. I find it perfect for a summer dinner: it’s light but substantial enough to fill you up, especially if you serve a good loaf of bread with it. In this case, the recipe will feed 2 or 3 happy people.

MIXED GREEN SALAD WITH GRAPEFRUIT AND WARM SHRIMP
(serves 6 as an appetizer course)

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for the shrimp
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed)
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste
12 ounces uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 T butter

for the vinaigrette
1/4 cup olive oil
2 t balsamic vinegar
2 t grapefruit juice
1 garlic clove, minced (I omitted)
salt and ground white pepper

for the salad
3 ounces mixed baby greens of your choice
2 heads Belgian endive, separated into spears
2 pink grapefruit, peeled and cut into segments (see my comments)
1 t minced fresh Italian parsley

To prepare the shrimp, combine the oil, the grapefruit juice and the garlic in a bowl. Add the shrimp, season with salt and pepperand refrigerate everything for 6 to 24 hours.

To make the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients until blended.

Place the greens, endive and grapefruit segments in separate bowls, adding the vinaigrette to each bowl and tossing the ingredients. Make sure to save any grapefruit juice that runs out of the segments.

Heat a skillet that will hold all the shrimp over high heat. Add the shrimp and the marinade and stir them until the shrimp are cooked and the sauce slightly reduces, about 3 minutes. Add the butter and toss the shrimp until it melts, then remove it from the heat. Add the reserved juices from the grapefruit segments to the skillet and stir to blend.

For nice presentation, assemble the salad by placing the endive spears in a circle on individual plates. Add a grapefruit section on top of each spear,and pile a mound of greens in the center, topping the dish with two hot shrimp and another grapefruit piece. Drizzle with a little of the sauce; sprinkle with parsley.

Bon Appetit!

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