Let’s cook!

Asian Spice Shrimp

1 lb peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp

1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

4 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons ginger, minced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, minced

2 tablespoons mirin

Salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, add sugar, five-spice powder, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

Mix well. Heat a large frying pan over high heat until very hot and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Spread the cornstarch on a plate.

Place shrimp on the plate and coat as well as possible.

Add shrimp to the pan and cook until opaque, which for me was 5 minutes. While the shrimp are cooking, dice up the jalapeno, garlic, and ginger.

 Using a spoon, transfer the shrimp to a bowl. Return the pan to high heat and add the remaining oil. Add the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno and cook for 1 minute.

Add the Mirin.

Add shrimp back to the pan.

Add the spice mixture.

Coat the shimp will with spice and cook for 1 minute.

Time to plate!

Here is the close-up:

This is a meal that will keep you warm from the cold weather and is perfect for the winter! I hope you enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Let’s cook!

Shrimp and Fingerlings with Tomato Broth

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups finely chopped onions

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (you can use less if you don’t like it spicy)

1 cup Pinot Grigio

1-8oz. bottle clam juice

3 cups of water

8 ounces fingerling potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds

1 pound peeled deveined uncooked jumbo shrimp

Heat oil in a large dutch oven. Add onions and saute until tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes.

Add garlic and paprika.

Stir for 2 minutes.

Add can of tomatoes with juice.

Cook for 20 minutes and be sure to stir frequently. Add rosemary and crushed red pepper.

Stir well and then add wine. Cook until liquid evaporates completely about 10 minutes.

Add clam juice.

Then 3 cups of water.

Bring both to a high boil. Add potatoes, simmer until almost tender, about 10 mintues.

Add shrimp, simmer until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Time to serve. There is nothing better to me than sourdough bread and a soup like this. Here is how I did the plating:

Here is the close-up:

This might not be a quick meal for a weekday but for me cooking is a great way to remove stress from work. I am looking forward to my lunch tomorrow!

Happy Cooking!

Let’s cook!

Garlic Shrimp Scampi

20 colossal shrimp (I gotta have enough for my lunch tomorrow)

1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup white wine

3/4 cup butter

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 box of hard pasta – start cooking this right away

Place shrimp in a single layer baking dish.

Sprinkle with garlic, onion, parsley, butter salt and pepper.

Pour wine over the shrimp.

Turn on the broiler and place shrimp pan in, and broil for 4 minutes.

Turn shrimp and cook for another 4 more minutes.

Remove and let rest for 1 minute before you serve.

For tonight’s dinner I served the shrimp over spaghetti noodles with shaved parmessan cheese. The scampi was the sauce. Here is the plating.

Here is the close-up:

This recipe will be very impressive if you are serving guests. Another note, make sure you have all your sides ready to serve, because you want to serve shrimp scampi within 5 minutes from removing from the broiler.

Tomorrow I will post our dinner experience from Vegas.  The food was so amazing out there we kept forgetting to take pictures of the whole serving dishes, and had to take them after we had served our plates, but you will get the picture.  We had sushi one night at Shibuya and then had a 4th of July 3 course feast at Craft House, which is a restaurant owned by the celebrity chef Tom Collichio.

Happy Cooking!

Jumbo Shrimp Pasta

15-20 colossal size shrimp – tails on, deveined

2 tablespoons fennel seed (told you I love this stuff)

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if you don’t like spicy just don’t add)

Salt and pepper

1/2 of  fresh lemon juice

4 cloves of garlic – grated

1/4 cup olive oil

1 slice of prosciutto

In a large bowl place shrimp, fennel, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to your liking, olive oil, garlic and fresh squeeze lemon juice. Mix well with your hands.

Notice I am using my favorite tool for the garlic?

Now that everything is the bowl, I will mix it up and start my pot of water for the fresh pasta.

Heat a skillet to medium-high and put in the shrimp with all the oil from the bowl as well.

Cook the shrimp until pink and firm.

Turn off the skillet and this is when I cook the fresh pasta for 1 minute in the pot.

Now that everything is done time for plating. I took and handful of fresh pasta and added to the bowl and added shrimp with the sauce from the pan. I then added fresh prosciutto. Here is the plating:

So there you have it, Jumbo Shrimp Pasta.  Guys if you cook this on St. Patrick’s Day – well you just might have the luck of the Irish if you get my drift!

Happy Cooking!

Jumbo Shrimp with Fresh Angel Hair Pasta

Check back tonight for the recipe and pictures.

Sauteed Spinach:

Two very large handfuls of  baby spinach leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Freshly squeezed lemon juice–1/2 lemon

In a very large pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute, until about half is brown. Add all the spinach, the salt, and pepper to the pot, toss it with the garlic and oil, cover the pot, and cook it for 2 – 4 minutes.

Uncover the pot, turn the heat on high, and cook the spinach for another minute, stirring with a wooden spoon (I love cooking with wooden spoons!). Once the spinach is wilted, it is done. I let the spinach sit for about 5 minutes and I squeeze lemon and sprinkle kosher salt and I start on the shrimp.

Garlic & Herb Shrimp:

Ok I made a rookie mistake and made my herb/garlic mix before Jen (my photographer) took the pic. So here is the skinny:

20-25 small shrimp (no shell and no pooper vein – sorry but that is what I call it!)

2 cloves of garlic – minced very small

5 stems of fresh chives

2 tablespoons of fresh parshley chopped

1/4 cup of orange juice

1/2 of a lemon

Take a saute pan and turn on high heat. Add the shrimp and let the shrimp cook for about two minutes.

Now here is something I like about cooking, the shrimp started to cook really fast and I noticed the yummy flavor sorta sticking to the pan so what did I do? Yep I grabbed a bottle of white wine and added about 1/4 cup of white wine to the pan of shrimp, and had a small glass for myself too.  (Hey–I HAD to make sure it tasted good!) 

Stir the shrimp and don’t overcook.   I typically cook my shrimp for 8 minutes max (4 minutes per side) and I squeeze half of a lemon over top of the shrimp once it is cooked. Now, time to plate! Remember, this was not an expensive meal nor one that took forever to make, but with plating, you can make it look like a million bucks and like you spent all day slaving over the stove.

See how I stacked the spinach and made sure I added the garlic to the top?

Amazing how two stems of chives and a little sprig parsley dress up this simple dish. Here is a view of the total plating:

Now, we have conquered garlic and herb shrimp-simple, huh?  Stay tuned for the weekend meals–great appetizer recipes coming up on Saturday when we are hosting a party at our house.   Would love to hear your success stories with the recipes so far from this week.  Feel free to leave your remarks in the ‘Comments” section.

Happy Cooking!

Here is the menu for tonight:

Garlic and Herb Shrimp
Sauteed Spinach

Also, I will now add how much the meal cost to make starting tonight as well.

Check back tonight for the recipe and pictures.