Two for One: Spanish Style Shrimp with Garlic, Jeff's Shrimp and Rice

It was Girls' Night In. Mexican food was chosen and I wanted to fix something unique. So I looked in my recipe collection and found a tapas recipe I liked.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, tapas are little plates of yummies served in Spain along with your cocktail or beer. They allow you to try local specialties without spending a lot of money.

Anyway, the recipe I found was reasonably quick and easy: Spanish Style Shrimp with Garlic. It sounded yummy, so I sent hubby to the store to pick up some shrimp while I showered and made myself pretty.

Hubby called me from Wally World to make sure he got the size of shrimp that I wanted. What we both neglected to determine was whether I wanted raw or cooked shrimp.

He got cooked. The ones they boil in plain old water with no seasoning. Yuck. (He was very apologetic since I had a hysterical fit when he got home with it.)

Since there wasn't any way to modify the tapas recipe for cooked shrimp, I gave up and just contributed some cash to the food because this all happened about 3 hours before we all got together.

Leaving me with a pound of (yucky) cooked, thawed shrimp.

The next day that shrimp needed to be used. I refused to touch it, mostly because I didn't feel particularly clever that day and was unable to come up with any ideas for dinner. Which might've had something to do with the hangover I had from the bourbon I drank at Girl's Night In...

So Hubby came up with Jeff's Shrimp and Rice. Like any good cook he made it with a little of this and a little of that, so in the recipe below you'll need to use your own judgment about how much of each seasoning to use.

The recipes follow. If you try Jeff's Shrimp, why don't you come back and comment on how much of each seasoning you used?

Spanish Style Shrimp with Garlic
Yield 4 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup shrimp and 1 lemon wedge)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
4 lemon wedges

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add pepper, garlic, and bay leaf; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Increase heat to medium-high. Add shrimp; sauté until shrimp have pink or orange markings and white, opaque flesh (about 4 minutes). Remove from heat. Sprinkle with salt. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle with parsley, and serve with lemon wedges.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 161 (31% from fat)
Fat: 5.5g (sat 0.9g,mono 3g,poly 1.1g)

Jeff's Shrimp and Rice

Canola oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh sweet onion (such as Mayan or Vidalia)
Black pepper
Red pepper flakes
Parsley flakes
Garlic powder
Cumin powder
Dried oregano
3 cups cooked white rice
Olive oil
1# cooked large shrimp

Heat 3 tablespoons canola oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add seasonings, crumbling dried herbs with your fingers to release the flavor. Saute the seasonings for a minute or two. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in the cooked rice and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until rice is hot. Add just enough olive oil, stirring constantly, to give the mixture a slight sheen. Heat through; add cooked shrimp and cook for another 5 minutes stirring frequently until shrimp is hot. Serve.

As usual, I'm unable to properly attribute the tapas recipe. I collect them from all over the web and don't usually log where I found them.

My Favorites: Seriously The Best Brownies I've Ever Had

Brownies. Mmmmmm. I've always been a chocoholic, so brownies were one of the first things I learned to make as a kid. Early on every batch of brownies had a bit of my knuckle skin in it from grating the chocolate by hand, but nobody noticed. These are fudgy, moist, and oh-so-bad-for-you. The recipe comes from Amy Vanderbilt's cookbook although I added the chocolate chips. You can frost them if you want to be obscenely decadent.

2/3 c shortening
4-1 oz squares unsweetened chocolate, grated
1 c packed brown sugar
1 c granulated sugar
4 eggs
1-1/3 c sifted all-purpose flour
1-1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 c chopped nuts
2 t vanilla
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips (if desired)

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease 9x13 pan.
Combine 1st 4 ingredients in saucepan. Place over low heat; stir occasionally until shortening and chocolate melt. Remove from heat, add eggs, and beat until well blended. Sift dry ingredients together. Beat into egg mixture. Stir in nuts and vanilla until smooth. Pour into pan. Bake about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center has crumbs on it. Set pan on rack to cool. Cut into squares or bars.

I Forgot Dinner: Italian Mac 'n Cheese

Oh, hell. I forgot to take some meat out of the freezer for last night's dinner. And although we're overrun with squash right now, that's it for the garden at this time. Kinda hard to fix dinner with just squash. Plus, I want to pickle a bunch of it, so...I improvised. Big-time. I took a cruise through my cabinets and came up with this concoction that turned out to be pretty good.

Italian Mac 'n Cheese

2 boxes cheap macaroni & cheese
butter, olive oil & 0% milk
1 14.5 oz. can asparagus cuts & tips
1 10 oz. can white turkey in water
1 oz. Neufchatel cheese
1-1/2 tablespoons purchased pesto
onion powder
8 Ritz crackers

Boil macaroni as directed. Meanwhile, open & drain cans of asparagus & turkey.

While pasta is draining, in pasta pot combine cheese sauce mix, butter & olive oil (use half butter, half olive oil as called for on the macaroni boxes), milk as called for plus 1/4 c. extra, and cream cheese.

Cook over low, stirring, until smooth. Add asparagus and turkey; stir gently until hot. Stir in pesto and onion powder to taste. Add macaroni; combine. Crumble the crackers and stir in. Stir until all is nice and hot, then serve.

We ate ours with fresh cucumber slices and lowfat ranch dressing.

Do you have any "I Forgot" dinners you'd like to share? I'd love to hear about them!

The Difference Between Scottish Cooking and Food (Guest Post)

Today's post is lifted in its entirety from W. Bruce Cameron's column.  I subscribe to him via www.arcamax.com.  The guy is hilarious!  Here's today's offering:

W. Bruce Cameron
Monday August 24, 2009 
The Difference between Scottish Cooking and Food 

Take the very worst of Scottish cooking, and what do you have? 

English cooking. 

That is the conclusion of a food historian named Cathryn Brown, whose research indicates that the Scottish dish haggis isn't Scottish at all, but was invented by the English, who apparently hate people. 

To define terms: "Haggis" refers to what happens when you take inedible animal parts, mix them with horse feed and cook it in a sheep's stomach. Nobody likes it, especially the sheep. "Scotland" is a country where it rains a lot. "England," same thing. A "food historian" is a person who talks about meals of the past, whereas a person who dwells on meals of the future is "my father." A Scotsman himself, my father will view tonight's dinner and, without taking a bite, ask, "What's for dinner tomorrow?" 

Why a person who studies food would be interested in haggis is anyone's guess. 

Food historians will tell you that before the invention of food, people were remarkably hungry. What Cathryn Brown will tell you is that the first recorded mention of haggis is in a 1615 English cookbook, describing the dish as "very popular throughout England," so it must have been eaten in that-time-before-food that we were just talking out. 

The first mention of Scottish haggis doesn't appear until 1747, though in my opinion this proves nothing -- maybe it just took that long for the Scots to get up the nerve to eat it. 

The Scots are very proud of haggis, which was written about by Robert Burns, the Scottish national hero, "renegade poet" and creator of the song "Auld Lang Syne," whose lyrics go like this: 

"Should old acquaintance be forgot, 

"And la la, la la, la la, 

"Should old, um ... hmm hmm hmmm 

"La la la, in old lang syne!" 

A Scottish friend of mine gave me a tin of haggis as a gift, which I accidentally left sitting out on a table at a restaurant when I left. When I realized my mistake, I rushed back to the restaurant, but I was too late: Someone had already been to the table and left two more tins of haggis. 

At any rate, Brown's research has stirred up the Scots, who have rallied their numbers by chanting the stanzas from Robert Burns' "Address to a Haggis": 

"Trenching your gushing entrails bright 

"Like onie ditch; 

"And then, O what a glorious sight. ..." 

It goes on from there. I think the last line is "La la la, in old lang syne." 

Picture going to a restaurant and saying, "I want the thing described as gushing in a ditch." 

"Good idea," my dad would say. "What's for dinner tomorrow?" 

Scottish cooks will advise you that the best way to enjoy haggis is to picture your mother-in-law eating it. Otherwise, you're advised to have a bottle of good Scottish whiskey nearby. Take a forkful of haggis with one hand, grab the bottle of whiskey with the other, raise the haggis toward your mouth, and then quickly lift the bottle of whiskey and hit yourself in the head with it. 

"Good job," my dad would say. "What are you going to hit yourself with tomorrow?" 

A slab of haggis on a plate is very attractive if you've never before seen food. Otherwise, you get an urgent message from your stomach saying something like, "You are NOT swallowing that!" followed by strong agreement from your throat and mouth, who advise you that if you ignore their warnings you're probably going to spend an hour or so gushing onie ditch. 

So some claim the Scottish deserve the credit for inventing haggis, while others disagree, saying the Scottish deserve the blame. Meanwhile, in England, people are quoted as saying: "Wait, you're going to do what to a sheep? And then eat it? Why can't we just have a traditional English dinner at McDonald's?" 

A lot of people who are descended from Scots will find this whole column offensive and will vigorously defend haggis because they've never tasted it. Yet my father, though proud of his Scottish heritage, won't care if you take his haggis away. 

He can always have it for dinner tomorrow. 

To write Bruce Cameron, visit his Website at www.wbrucecameron.com. To find out more about Bruce Cameron and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. 

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Copyright 2009 Creators Syndicate Inc.

Read more about W. Bruce Cameron at ArcaMax.com.

Things Recipes Don't Tell You

Herbs & Spices

• Quantities are guidelines only. The actual amount you use will depend on how old your spices are; if they don't smell very strong you'll need to increase the quantity (and buy new spices). This is why you should taste your dishes whenever possible & adjust the spices accordingly.
• It usually isn't necessary to add salt as called for in a recipe. However, I can think of two exceptions: plain mashed potatoes (or any other food that's known to be really bland), and baked goods where salt is a necessity for rising and so forth. Oh, and although there's a lot of debate about this one, I believe you should salt meat you're going to grill/broil if you want a nice crust on it.
• Dried herbs should be measured, then crushed between your fingers to release the flavor before adding to a dish. Fresh herbs should be chopped at least a little bit, too.
• If a dish calls for an herb or spice you don't usually keep on hand, try to find it in bulk. You can buy 3 tablespoons of rosemary, for example, for about 9 cents. Plus, it's fresh! And if you're not any good at estimating quantities, take your measuring spoons with you.

Measuring

• The only time it's necessary to be absolutely precise when measuring is when the ratio of one ingredient to another is critical. When making baked goods from scratch, like bread, it's necessary. It's also necessary when making sauces or gravies. The rest of the time, don't sweat it.
• When a recipe calls for "1/4 cup chopped parsley", chop the parsley and then measure it. If the recipe calls for "1/4 cup parsley, chopped", measure the parsley by first packing it loosely into a measuring cup; then chop it up.
• When measuring dry ingredients, don't shake the cup or spoon. Just loosely scoop or spoon the ingredient in, then use the back of a knife to scrape it off level with the top of the measuring implement.

Cooking

• The only times I know for sure that it's necessary to preheat the oven are when baking pizza, and when making baked goods like cakes, bread, etc. For roasts, casseroles, roasted vegetables, lasagne, etc. etc., it isn't necessary and wastes money. Just add a few minutes to the cooking time instead.

Substitutions

• There are charts and tips all over the WWW for substitutions. All I wanted to say about them is don't be afraid to substitute things. It's the way you truly learn to cook!

My husband calls me "The Kitchen Goddess" and every time he says it to someone I blush. I'm not a goddess, just a darned good cook. If you have any specific questions feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll be glad to respond. Happy cooking!