Shrimp... Simple, Quick, and a little Fancy

I always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer, I like it for the convenience when I don't have time to run out and get fresh, it's easy to defrost, and it makes for a very quick dinner, and besides for a minimal amount of money I can get a few meals out of one bag. I think I paid $11.00 dollars for a 2 pound bag of jumbo cleaned and deveined ready to cook shrimp, you can't beat that! Here's a couple of my favorite ways to prepare it.

Bucatini with Shrimp and Roasted Tomato sauce
1.Roast your tomatoes at 400F till all of the juices burst out, remove from oven. I used those Campari tomatoes on the vine, cut in half drizzled with olive oil, S&P.
2.While tomatoes are roasting saute some shaved garlic in olive oil and toss your shrimp in there, remove when they're almost done.
3. Toss in some white wine, reduce a little and scrape all the tomatoes and every bit of the juices into the pan,
4. Add back your shrimp, toss in some chopped basil, and blend it all with your favorite pasta, bucatini works well with this.

Shrimp Aragonate

This is baked stuffed shrimp, with tons of flavor, this is a great dish for a party too. You can make a huge pan of these, or just a few, to go along with a steak as a surf and turf.

1.Preheat oven to 450F. Oil a large baking pan.

2.In a medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, fresh or panko, fresh parsley, and crushed garlic (don't be shy). Stir in olive oil to moisten the crumbs.

3.Arrange the shrimp single layer, curling each shrimp into a circle. Spoon a little of the bread crumb mixture onto each shrimp. Drizzle a little more olive oil on before baking.

4.Bake until the crumbs are browned and the shrimp are cooked through when cut in the thickest part, about ten minutes.

4.Serve hot or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.

Recipe adapted from, "Entertaining with the Soprano's"

Its been so nice to see and smell spring flowers popping up all over, here's some I have popping up around my house. I just love the smell of hyacinths!

Have a great week, and Buon Appetito!

Grilled Rack of Pork with Pomegranate Glaze

I've seen so many great recipes floating around in the blogosphere using POM Wonderful, I was fortunate enough to receive a case of this wonder juice myself. After holding on to it for a while, drinking some and giving some away, I decided to make a glaze with it. Seeing that its BBQ season again ( yipee!) I thought it would be perfect with some grilled meats. Well let me just say, it was!

I grilled and seasoned my rack of pork, with garlic, rosemary and thyme, and at the last 15 minutes I brushed a little glaze all over. After it rested for about 10 minutes I drizzled more of this beautiful colored glaze on top. I served it with some whole wheat couscous, and a raw kale salad made with fresh lemon, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.

This stuff is like a superpower!! 100% pomegranate juice, the health benefits are amazing! Just look at that color, doesn't it just scream ANTIOXIDANTS?

Reducing this down makes the most delicious glaze! This recipe was adapted from the
Everyday Food site.


POMEGRANATE GLAZE
2 Cups Pomegranate Juice
1 Cup of Orange Juice
1 t. Dried Rosemary
3 Smashed Garlic Cloves
2 t. of Red Wine Vinegar
Salt & Pepper

In a large skillet combine everything, boil on high reducing in half while scraping down sides of skillet with a wooden spoon or a heatproof spatula. After it thickens up a little strain everything through a fine mesh strainer. After I did that, I thickened it up even more. When finished, stir in 2 t. of red wine vinegar. Store leftover glaze in the frig.


For tons of ideas and recipes, and the many health benefits of this wonder juice go here.


Have a great weekend, and Buon Appetito!!

Eggplant Rolatini

This is one of those dishes I haven't made in ages! I normally don't fry eggplant anymore, its too time consuming, and it totals out my stove, so roasting and grilling is usually the norm here. But having said that, I think the special quality of this dish comes out with the breading and frying process, so once or twice a year, what the heck, go for it!!

The coating is so very light, you won't get that heavy tasting feeling at all!

Slice your eggplant lengthwise, and do salt your eggplant to let some of that bitterness come out. Pat it dry. Lightly dredge each piece in flour, shake off excess, and then quickly dip in beaten eggs. I use canola oil, enough to cover the bottom of my pan, med high heat, watch out they cook fast!

Drain on paper towel, season with salt and pepper. You might have to wipe out your pan with a paper towel and start with some fresh oil if leftover brown bits start to burn.

The filling is made with ricotta cheese, a handful of shredded mozzarella, grated romano or parmesan , s&p, chopped fresh basil or parsley, and an egg to bind it all. Mix it all together, spread it on the eggplant slice and roll. Place them single layer in a baking dish a top them with a light fresh marinara sauce, and more grated cheese.

Bake 375 for about 20 mins. The last couple of minutes I like to stick the whole pan under the broiler, and crisp it up a bit. But don't walk away!! Keep checking so you don't burn them!

No doubt we will be growing eggplant in our garden this year!

UPDATE ON OUR GARDEN

The hubby's going all out! He cemented 4 poles in the ground and took some chicken wire and made a fence around it to keep out the rabbits. He also threw some compost on the dirt. Next week he will make a small gate on the right side so we can get in and out.

He's getting pretty fancy, he even put 4 finials on top of the posts for a little decorative touch!

Watch out Martha!!!

Buon Appetito!

Antipasto Salad and a Tiramisu!

I just wanted to share with you a couple of the highlights of our dinner this past Sunday. This antipasto salad is so good you just HAVE to make it for your next party! Although I've made many salads with fresh green beans in the past like here, I never quite put this combination together. I can thank my dear friend Stacey, of Stacey Snacks for giving me the inspiration!



I tweaked Stacey's recipe slightly and used a combination of fresh green beans, that have been cooked and cooled down, just make sure they still have a little bite, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, (I had some that I roasted myself,) garbanzo beans, chopped red onion, and strips of salami. The dressing is made with red wine vinegar and olive oil, salt, pepper, granulated garlic and oregano. Delicious at room temperature. This was so good I had the leftovers for breakfast the next day!

One of the things we had for dessert was this Limoncello Tiramisu, not a conventional tiramisu but perfect for spring. Fresh lemon curd, layered over limoncello soaked pound cake, followed by a mascarpone whipped cream. The flavor is out out of this world!

I've made this before but never put it in a trifle bowl, you will definitely hear lots of ooohs and aaahs when you bring it out of the frig! It makes for a great presentation, and best of all you make it the night before! Just click on the link for the recipe and double everything if you're using a bowl like this. A good store bought pound cake is fine, I used 2 for this, slice it into 3rd's lengthwise, cut strips to go around the edge of the bowl, and bigger pieces to layer up the middle.

Enjoy the rest of your week, and Buon Appetito!

Party Sides!

These salads are great side dishes for parties, they can be made ahead of time, served cold or at room temperature. Have you ever tried pearl couscous? Larger than regular couscous, they look like tiny little pasta pearls. Just cook according to directions , and cool down by rinsing with cold water.

Place in a bowl and toss with a fresh lemon and olive oil dressing. Here I added red onion, chopped cucumber, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, fresh chopped parsley and basil. Salt & Pepper.

This carrot salad is a combination of finely chopped red onion, chopped parsley, garbanzo beans, and pine nuts, tossed in a red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing. The carrot strips were done with a vegetable peeler, this is raw not cooked. Salt & Pepper.

For this broccoli salad you'll want to blanch the broccoli florets for about 3 minutes in boiling water, then cool down in ice water and drain. Add chopped red onion, kalamata olives, diced red pepper, and crumbled feta, add salt, pepper, and a little granulated garlic. Toss in some olive oil.

If you want, you could add lemon, but it tastes good with out it too.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend filled with family, friends and food!

Marie

Zucchini Coins with Fettucine

Good food doesn't have to be expensive. In fact some of our favorite meals are very simple and not complicated at all. For a few dollars and less than 30 minutes you could have this on your table, and probably some leftovers for lunch the next day.

We enjoy meatless meals often. Sometimes I walk up to the meat counter and do a blank stare.

Been there, done that, did it! Don't get me wrong, we're meat eaters, but I have to say my favorite sections at the markets are the produce sections, I just love the variety, in fact that's where I spend most of my money!

For this dish, cut your zucchini into coins and saute in olive oil till golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. In the meantime have your water boiling for your 1lb of pasta. In the same pan you sauteed your zucchini, add 2 shaved garlic cloves and about 1/4 cup of olive oil cook till light golden, also add some pine nuts till toasty. Add your cooked pasta and about 3/4 cup of reserved pasta water.

Turn off your heat, add back your zucchini, a good amount of grated romano, and chopped fresh parsley. Toss gently.
Believe it or not I've never had a veggie garden, I usually only want to grow tons of herbs, especially my beloved basil!

This year hubby's going to try organic veggies (he's the gardener) he just broke ground on Saturday. I'll show you how things go as we progress.

Buon Appetito!!