Ensalada de Camarones (Shrimp Salad)

Ahahahahahaha!  Today when I woke up my buns where burning and I am not talking about some baked good I put in the oven, I am talking about my own personal buns.  No, it’s not because I sat in a batch of hot jamaican peppers it’s because I did a new class yesterday at the gym and it kicked my butt.  I felt the burnnnnnn.

It was an awesome class and one of the instructors was a trip.    He was from Texas, loud, buff, about 50 years old, in blue and white spandex and with a personality that would barely fit inside the state of Texas.  He had me laughing, while at the same time turning my legs into jello with every squat.

I was beat after that workout and I needed to get dinner together quick.  This is one of those I am tired and don’t feel like making an effort, toss together, and get dinner on the table quick meal.  The bonus is that Obed loves this and so he is happy and I have saved myself time and energy. The only problem about this dish is because it is a “throw it together” meal I have never paid full attention to my measurements when making it, so some of this will be a guesstimation.

In a hot skillet drizzle about 2 Tbs of olive oil and drop in 4 tbs (cubes) of sofrito.

While the sofrito breaks down, thinly slice 1/2 a large onion.

Add an additional 2 Tbs of olive oil, 1 Tbs of white vinegar and onions to the hot skillet cook at a medium-high heat until they begin to become translucent, about 5 minutes.

Once the onions begin to soften, but not too much because you still want a crunch, add the 1/2 bag of medium shrimp, about 30 shrimp.

Cook shrimp and onions together until shrimp turns pink and curls.  Once the shrimp is cooked through set aside in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl whisk together 1/2 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of white vinegar and set aside.

Dice a large tomato, two hard boiled eggs and cube an avocado.

To cube the avocado cut the avocado lengthwise around the seed. Open the two halves to expose the pit.  To remove the pit gently tap the pit with a knife with enough force so that the knife edge wedges into the pit, then twist your knife and the pit will pop out.  If you need tap it again but be careful not to miss and loose a finger.  Then using a small knife cut the flesh into a cube grid and use a spoon to scoop out the pieces.  For a more detailed tutorial check out this post by Simply Recipes.

Add diced egg, avocado and tomatoes to shrimp mixture and drizzle desired amount of dressing over top.

Toss everything together and add salt and pepper to taste.  You can serve it immediately or refrigerate and allow to marinate.

I have served this salad with white rice, boiled roots like yucca or on a chopped bed of spinach.    It is full of flavor and super easy and when the temperature finally decides to rise this will be a great dish to toss together.

Print Recipe

Ensalada de Camarones (Shrimp Salad)

• 4 Tbs of sofrito
• 3 Tbs olive oil, divided
• 1 Tbs white vinegar
• 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
• 30 medium shrimp
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 2 eggs, hard boiled and diced
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

In a hot skillet drizzle about 2 Tbs of olive oil and drop in 4 tbs (cubes) of sofrito.

While the sofrito breaks down, thinly slice 1/2 a large onion.

Add an additional 2 Tbs of olive oil, 1 Tbs of white vinegar and onions to the hot skillet cook at a medium-high heat until they begin to become translucent, about 5 minutes.

Once the onions begin to soften, but not too much because you still want a crunch, add the 1/2 bag of medium shrimp, about 30 shrimp.

Cook shrimp and onions together until shrimp turns pink and curls. Once the shrimp is cooked through set aside in a large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together 1/2 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of white vinegar and set aside.

Dice a large tomato, two hard boiled eggs and cube an avocado.

To cube the avocado cut the avocado lengthwise around the seed. Open the two halves to expose the pit. To remove the pit gently tap the pit with a knife with enough force so that the knife edge wedges into the pit, then twist your knife and the pit will pop out. If you need tap it again but be careful not to miss and loose a finger. Then using a small knife cut the flesh into a cube grid and use a spoon to scoop out the pieces.

Add dice egg, avocado and tomatoes to shrimp mixture and drizzle desired amount of dressing over top.  Toss everything together and add salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve it immediately or refrigerate and allow to marinate. I have served this salad with white rice, boiled roots like yucca or on a chopped bed of spinach.

Be a Slacker Make Shrimp Cakes

 I have been such a slacker!  Which has to be very apparent to you considering my lack of posting this week.  Not only have I been a slacker on posting but I have been a slacker in the kitchen.  It has been raining here all week and it just makes you tired and sleepy and all you want to do is veg out.  I have been also trying to catch up on Fringe since the season premier was yesterday and I was a little lost.  Regarless, tt has been almost impossible to get up out of bed in the morning lately.  It’s dark, cool and I can hear the rain outside my window. I have been hitting snooze on my alarm 5 times now instead of just 3.  The dogs don’t even want to get up.  I think rainy days should be automatic days off. Don’t you agree?

Well in staying with my current slacker state I made a slacker friendly dinner this week.  It really almost can’t get any easier then these shrimp cakes.  They come together in a matter of minutes and are ready to eat just in no time at all.   I hope that the sun comes out soon because if it doesn’t I see many sandwiches and bowls of cereal in my future. 

The shrimp cakes were very tasty.  I love it when food that requires such little effort and time comes out so delicious.  I made sure to chop the shrimp up  coarsly so the cakes would have shrimp chunks and not a shrimp mush.  They are flavorful, simple and so easy to make.  I served them as a sandwich on a soft roll with a garlic & green onion mayo.   They are also great to serve as an appetizer with a side of sweet chili sauce. 

Go ahead be a slacker tonight and have some of these for dinner.   Wait it is Friday, be a real slacker and go out to dinner, then makes these on Monday.

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Shrimp Cakes

• 1 lb of shrimp, peeled, deveined
• 1 large egg , lightly beaten
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1/2 Tbs ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon sarachi sauce
• 1 tsp sweet chili sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground black pepper
• 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 2 tbs of peanut or vegetable oil

Coarsely chop shrimp. In a large bowl combine shrimp, egg, green onion, ginger, mustard, cilantro, hot pepper sauce, sweet chili sauce, salt, and pepper.  Add 1 cup panko to the bowl and combine using your hands.  Form mixture into twelve 3-inch-diameter cakes.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, fry cakes until cooked through and golden brown on both sides, adding more oil to skillet as needed, about 6 minutes.

Paella

This weekend was relaxing and uneventful, which is pretty much how I like my weekends to be.   I didn’t do much cooking, but I did a little baking experimenting which you will have to comeback to read about later. 

I went fishing around in my drafts to see what I sitting around half done.   I had completely forgotten this post for Paella.  Paella is a Spanish rice dish that is cooked in a shallow pan, it is sort of a “jambalaya” of saffron rice, various meats and seafood.  I do not have a paella pan but I found this recipe and it suggested baking it in a shallow baking dish.  I figured I would give it a try. 

I was generally happy with the results but I wasn’t doing back flips.  I did think that the rice came out a little on the wet side and I made the mistake of adding some canned oysters that I had, BIG mistake.  I was able to pick them out afterwards so it wasn’t so bad but I wouldn’t do it again.   Now don’t get me wrong it tasted good (after I picked out the oysters) and I would make it again, I just wasn’t doing somersaults over it.   I think my issue was that I had never had a paella before and I was expecting it to be really different, I don’t know why, but it turned out to taste like something I had before, no “wow” factor.  I like my Arroz con Gandules better. 

However, I am not going to close the book on this one.  I WILL  make another attempt in the future!   I WILL buy myself  a paella pan and I WILL conquer the paella!

To be continued…….

Print Recipe

Paella (Adapted from Bon Appetit  June 2009)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 thick cut bacon slices, chopped
• 3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, halved
• 1 medium Onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups long-grain white rice
• 1 7 oz. jar roasted sliced pimientos with juice
• 1 envelope Sazon con Azafran or 1/2 tsp saffron threads
• 2 cups bottled clam juice
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 12 large uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined
• 1 Andouille sausage, sliced
• 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

Preheat oven to 450°F.  In a large pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add chopped bacon cook about 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove from pot and drain on paper lined plate.

Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pot with bacon drippings in pot and cook over medium heat until brown, remove chicken from pot and set aside.

Add chopped onions and garlic to pot and saute until they begin to brown and crisp, scraping up any browned bits, about 8 minutes. Stir in rice, roasted pimientos with juices and Sazon. Add clam juice and chicken stock to pot and bring rice mixture to simmer. Remove from heat.

Pour rice mixture into 15×10x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange chicken, shrimp and sausage over the rice. Sprinkle with chopped bacon and peas. Cover with foil.

Bake paella until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Remove foil from baking dish. Let paella stand 10 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

Bang Bang Shrimp Throwdown

That is right it is a throwdown.  Me vs. The Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp.   I dedicate this throwdown to my sister-in-law, who I saw scarf down and entire order of Bang Bang Shrimp in 2.5 seconds, with my own eyes.    Yes, she was run over with beads of hot sweat, ate half a loaf of bread to sooth her mouth and developed a bit of a runny nose….if you know what I mean.  But she did not care, she concured that mound of spicy crunch goodness and then happily patted her belly and said she could eat more.  Mind you the chick is like a size 2, I don’t know where she puts the stuff.  Punk! Yes, I know….it’s ok….I will kick her for you next time I see her.

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Spicy Tomato Shrimp with Creamy Polenta

 Ahhhhh…the heavens have opened and I have found a new love.  For awhile now I have been curious about polenta but it was usually mentioned hand-in-hand with grits.   This made me hesitant and it was little bit of a turned off, because it was compared in likeness to grits and I hate grits.  I know to some people that may sound sacrilegious, but what am I going to do?  I just don’t dig the texture. 

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Coconut Shrimp Soup, Some Like It Hot…..

It has been a little crazy these past few days.  Yesterday, I was at my church playing Bunkopalooza, which was a ton of fun. However, I got home late and I was starving.  I didn’t really want to take the time to cook because: first, I was starving and second, Hubby had worked late and was on his way home.  So, I ran out to the grocery store.

I have to be honest and tell you that I did not go to the grocery store to buy missing ingredients for this soup.  I didn’t make this soup yesterday.  I made it on Monday.  I am taking this time to confess that I ran out to the grocery store and bought……well, I got…..I GOT A FROZEN BAG OF BERTOLLI PASTA DINNER AND GARLIC TEXAS TOAST…….okay, I feel better now.   Yes, it is true! I bought something pre-made and frozen and it wasn’t  pastry dough.  Dude!  What can I say? I was tired and hungry. Any food blogger out there that says they have never bought a frozen bag of something or other for dinner is probably a fibber.  

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I Got the Cover: Shrimp and Cotija Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

Ok so I fibbed. I didn’t get the cover….a girl can dream right?

As I mentioned in a previous post we had a visitor last week.  I was at the grocery store walking up and down the aisles trying to decided what to make for dinner.  I decided to stop at the magazine rack and checkout what new mags are out.  I picked up this months issue of Bon Appetite and thiswas on the cover.  I just thought it was beautiful.  I skimmed through the magazine and checkout out the recipe and I though this is perfect for tonight, so I dropped it into my cart and started shopping for my ingredients.

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Mofongo con Camarones (“Mashed” Plantains with Shrimp)

Wondering where I was going with my last post?  Probably not, but it wasn’t for no reason.  How to Peel Plantains helps us with this recipe. Last night I thought I would do some “down home cooking” and made Mofongo con Camarones (Mashed Plantains with Shrimp).  I love mofongo it is one of my favorite ways to eat plantains, but it isn’t exactly figure friendly.  Last night I decided I was going to make an effort to make it a little more figure friendly.  I do not really know if I managed to accomplish it but it turned out pretty darn good, except for the fact that I was a little heavy handed with the garlic, so I will be cutting it in the recipe.  If you want more garlic you can always add more.

Also, my initial plan on how to prepare the dish did not go over so well, so I had to make some adjustments to “save” it.  Because of this my visual step-by-step “tutorial” is going to be a little incomplete.

Mofongo is usually made by cutting plantains into slices and deep frying them until they are cooked through.  Then you transfer them into a mortar and pestle and mash with garlic and pork rinds.   I tried to make it a little more “friendly” by baking the plantains instead of frying them.

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Spicy Tequila Shrimp

 

When I saw this recipe I just had to try it. I have never done any kind of flambé. I found it because I was looking for a recipe that used tequila, since I still had some left from my birthday celebration. (We each had a horny toad margarita, thank you Amber)I was very excited to do this dish. I gave Hubby a heads up just in case the fire brigade was in front of the house when he got home, he would know why.   This was a risky choice because I cannot find a fire extinguisher anywhere in the house. But I got some sand so I should be ok..

Well the flambé was cool, I recommend everyone tries it once, and the dish was super YUM-E! Even though it has jalapenos it isn’t very spicy, really almost not at all.  It was fun to start a fire. lol.  Hubby walked in right after I had lit it, just in time for the show.  It had a great flavor to it, I loved the lime.  I complimented the shrimp with”Green” Rice which has cilantro and lime tossed into it. It was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S !  I made it with jasmine rice which gave it a great aroma. 

I am so proud that I pulled this off with out burning down my kitchen, singeing my eyebrows or arm hair. (My fore arms are a little on the fuzzy side)  Oh and no fire brigade.

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Shrimp Scampi over Rice Tortitas

 

For my wedding I registered for a tapas cookbook.  If you are unfamiliar with what are tapas, they are Spanish appetizers and finger foods that are served in the bars and restaurants of Spain.  At  a tapas restaurant you will usually find a menu full of all kinds of delicious appetizers and finger foods to share at your table. 

Today I finally pulled out that cookbook and tried a dish from it.  I was going to just cook a quick dinner of yellow rice with some shrimp scampi but when I saw this recipe I thought this would be a great variation, since it was rice & potato “tortitas”. (“tortita” means pancake)  I make my shrimp “scampi” by saute-ing the shrimp with some olive oil, butter, chicken stock and 3 cloves of garlic, real easy.

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