My Made-Up Shrimp Stir-Fry

*Yes, that is my image, captured on my phone. Not sure the colors are terribly accurate, but it's the best I've got.

My Made-Up Shrimp Stir-Fry

Last night I was in a bit of a pickle. I had to be somewhere at 7 o’clock, I got home later than planned, and I didn’t know when the hubs was going to get home. Thankfully, I had a pound of frozen, deveined, easy-peel shrimp in my freezer. I set that to thaw as soon as I got in the door, and started looking for recipes. I had planned on shrimp for dinner but didn’t have much planned beyond that, and didn’t have time (or ingredients, in some cases) to make any of my more involved shrimp recipes.

So, I winged it, with great results (thank goodness)! I started out using this recipe from A Calculated Whisk, just to make sure I was on the right track. What followed was pure garlicky magic.

What you need:

1lbs raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, tail off, thawed if frozen
2 Tbsp olive oil
2+ tsp minced garlic (I didn't measure that carefully. It was about 2 tsp and it was nice and garlicky.)
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika or to taste
1 package frozen steamable veggies: I used cauliflower, broccoli, carrots
1/2 C water

What you do: 

• Heat oil in large skillet over medium low heat.
• Add garlic. Sautée until garlic is soft but don't brown, approx 2 minutes.
• Add shrimp, turning heat to medium. Stir to coat with oil and garlic.
• Sprinkle salt, pepper, and paprika evenly over the shrimp.
• Cover and cook for 4 minutes. Do not overcook!
• While cooking the shrimp, put your steamable veggies in the microwave on high.
• After 4 minutes, remove shrimp from skillet and set aside.
• Remove veggies from microwave and toss into skillet. Coat veggies with pan sauce.
• Add 1/2 C water to pan, stirring.
• Cook veggies in skillet, covered, for 2-3 minutes, or until tender.
• Toss shrimp back in, stir it all together while cooking for 1 more minute.

Serve hot. Sprinkle a tiny pinch of Parmesan cheese on each serving if desired.

Shrimp Creole

*Yep, those are my images... of my dinner! 

Pinterest is taking up all my time but man is it tasty! I got this recipe via Pinterest, but it's posted by Never Enough Thyme... you can see it right here. The whole reason I started keeping this blog is that I often change recipes on the fly, and unless I write down my own little variations, I forget them and have to start over every time I want to make the dish. So in a rare twist, I didn't change one single thing about this recipe. Really! I followed Never Enough Thyme's recipe to the T, with amazing results. I've never cooked shrimp creole before but I guarantee I'll do it again. 

The author over at Never Enough Thyme specifically requests that if you want to re-print her recipe that you write it out in your own words or link to the original post. Obviously, I've already done the linking part, but I really don't want to make her mad because I will probably be going back to her site for more recipes... I'd hate to get blacklisted. So I'm going to write it out my own way and hope for her blessing, but please: visit her site to see the original... let this post just be a guide to Never Enough Thyme! :)

What you need:

1 lb Raw shrimp, peeled, and deveined. I used flash-frozen peeled / deveined / tail-off. 

2 Tbsp butter

3/4 C yellow onion, chopped (not as fine as dicing, but smallish pieces mmmkay?)

3 small celery ribs, chopped (see above.)

1 green pepper, cored, seeded, chopped (see above the above)

3 garlic cloves, minced. I used 3tsp of pre-minced garlic from a jar... you use what you like.

1 28oz can of diced tomatoes with juices (Oh, a variation! The original calls for 3C of diced tomato with juices, but the cans don't come in that size so I just approximated. I left a bit of tomato in the can but not much.)

3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried, but trust me, use fresh!)

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp grated lemon rind (Hubby did not like the lemon. May try without it next time)

12 dashes of Tabasco sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

2 servings of rice

Garnish:
Juice of 1/2 lemon (since you're already going to use the rind, why not juice that lemon?)
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley. If you don't care about garnish, just skip this step... then you don't have to buy a whole pile of fresh parsley just for this recipe! I wouldn't repeat this next time. 

What you do:

Rinse your shrimp and set it aside. You'll want it to drain and be fairly dry when you add it at the end of the recipe. 

Boil water for your rice. You need the rice to be ready when the dish is finished cooking, so start both at the same time (or cook the rice ahead, whatever. You don't want to have to wait when the creole is done!)

Melt the butter in a large sautée pan, then add the onion. Cook until the onion is wilted, stirring often. Do not brown the onion! Add celery, green pepper, and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, or until the veggies are softened.

Add the tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf, Tabasco, lemon rind, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes uncovered, or until most of the liquid is gone. Mine took only about 12 minutes and then I had to cover it or I wouldn't have had any liquid left at all. So mind it carefully while its cooking! 

Add the shrimp. Stir it in well, then cover it. Set the timer for 5 minutes and DO NOT COOK FOR ANY LONGER. Seriously, don't do it. The worst thing is over-cooked shrimp. It will take no more than five minutes... trust me. 

Garnish with lemon juice, parsley, and whatever else you want. Serve over rice... because yum! 

Simply Shrimply Spicy Pasta

*I totally did not take this picture. As you can see by the watermark, it's from Budget Bytes.

I don't get a lot of "weird" food cravings, but when I do crave something I definitely get some serious tunnel vision about it. So, when I realized I'd been thinking about almost nothing but shrimp for over a week, I decided it was time to do something about it. 

I've only ever cooked shrimp once or twice before; I'm a little intimidated by seafoods in general, as they are so easy to under or over cook. Still, I decided I needed to be brave and give it a shot, and I'm glad I did. The ever-amazing and wonderful Budget Bytes provided the base recipe (here), and I messed with it a little until it tasted the way I wanted, which was freaking delicious. 

A few notes about this recipe: Your home will likely smell like garlic shrimp for a day or two after making it. It's worth it. Also, the recipe calls for fresh parsley; so do yourself a favor and use fresh parsley. You can get by making it with dried (I did it), but the burst of fresh herbs will add a flavor dimension to this meal you just can't get with dried, IMHO. When you're picking up the parsley, get some fresh basil too. Trust me. 

What you need:
1 (15oz) can of Diced Tomatoes

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Butter

4 Cloves Garlic, minced (or 3-4tsp of minced from the jar... or more, if you like it zesty!)

1/2 lbs Raw Peeled and Deveined Shrimp (I bought a 3/4 lbs bag of flash-frozen raw/peeled/deveined shrimp for like $8; they only take about 10 minutes to thaw by running them under cool waater.)

1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1/4 tsp Chili Pepper Flakes (Hot, optional)

1/4 tsp Salt

Black Pepper to taste

A small handful of fresh Parsley (about 4T worth).*

A small handful of fresh Basil (see above)... (if you like basil. If you don't, just skip it.).*

8oz fettuccine or equivalent of your favorite long pasta (I use angel hair). 

What you do:

• Mince your garlic if you're using fresh. Tear or finely chop about 2T worth of parsley and basil and set aside. Roughly tear the rest of the parsley and basil to sprinkle on when serving. Set aside.
• Boil water for the pasta. Add the pasta. Cook the pasta. Got that? Once it's tender, drain it and set it aside. 
• Rinse your shrimp with cool water (unless you just thawed them under cool water, which would render this step unnecessary.) Be sure to drain the excess water. 
• While the pasta is cooking, add the olive oil and butter to a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Once the butter melts, throw the shrimp and minced garlic into your skillet. Sauté the shrimp and garlic for 3-5 minutes; just until the shrimp is opaque and slightly pink. Once done, remove the shrimp from the skillet and set it aside. Use tongs; you want to keep as much butter/oil/garlic in the skillet as possible.
• Pour the can of tomatoes, juices and all, into the skillet, along with your pepper flakes (both if using both), salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and then let the sauce simmer for 5-6 minutes; it should thicken slightly. 
• Once the sauce thickens, toss your shrimp back in there and simmer it all together for 1 minute. Then, add the drained pasta into the skillet as well and stir it all together. You want the sauce to coat the pasta. 
• Taste and adjust your salt/pepper if needed. Remove from heat. Sprinkle a little of the roughly torn parsley / basil over the skillet before serving, reserve a little if people want to garnish with more. 
• Serve hot with some fresh Parmesan cheese tossed on top. 

*Like I said, you can totally swing this recipe using dried herbs, as I did. I used about 1T each of dried parsley and basil in the sauce and didn't reserve any for garnish... next time, I will definitely use fresh, but in a pinch you'll be just fine. 

Mini Shrimp Quiche Hors D'oeuvres

*not my image

Mini Shrimp Quiche

When I was little, we used to host Christmas at our house every year.  Starting in October, my mother would begin preparing hors d'oeuvres for the freezer. She'd make a variety of yummies each year... some classics, and usually one or two new things to try. I grew up on homemade hors d'oevres; we never bought pre-made frozen ones until I was in my twenties. 

As a result, none of the store-bought hors d'oeuvres ever taste as good as the ones we had growing up. Mini quiches were a favourite every year. My mother would make a few different kinds at first; mushroom and cheese, bacon and onion, and shrimp. As we got older, the shrimp were the clear favourite so she would just make those ones. She also used to make homemade crust, but in later years we would buy pre-made crust, which is what is listed in this recipe. I suppose you could use a puff pastry as well...

Anyway, the recipe is for the filling only; if you've got a great pastry recipe, feel free to leave it in the comments! :) 

Preheat oven to 375F.

3/4 C small cooked shrimp
1 egg
1/2 C milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp green onion
1/4 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 C shredded swiss cheese

Pie crust, cutout to fit your mini-muffin tin cups. 

Press crusts into your mini-muffin tin, ensuring that the crust reaches the top of each cup. 

Distribute the shrimp evenly into each crust. 

Beat egg, milk, onion, salt, dill, and cayenne until well blended. Distribute evenly into each crust.

Sprinkle cheese evenly over each crust. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and centres are set. Cool on wire rack. 

If you plan to freeze these to re-bake them later, be sure to remove them from the heat before they are too brown. The centre should still be set. 

Cool them completely, then place in freezable containers. Separate each layer with waxed paper.

Reheat in the oven at 400F just until hot.