Shrimp, Grape Tomato & Pasta

My son likes to cook. Being a modern husband he shares this duty with his wife. He often calls me for the details of a recipe at least once, okay, twice, even three times. Patience. I remind myself that cooking a good meal takes practice and I've been doing it for, uh, let's say, a long time. Hours after his final call will come the really final phone call...."Mom, it came out great!" The kid is a chip off the old, Italian block.

Back to the supper time phone calls....when Jared's phone number pops up on the caller ID and all I hear is a groan, I pretty much know there's a recipe dilemma.  The most common..."I forgot to defrost something to cook." Now, I have rarely faced this problem in my years of cooking. First, I am a obsessive compulsive grocery shopper. I get a high walking into a supermarket. Sooooo, I have enough pantry staples and frozen food in my freezer to survive a small war. Secondly, I take after my mother. She can grab 4 ingredients and create a feast fit for a queen. So, forgetting to defrost has never been a problem for me, BUT...this trait hasn't formed on my chip off the old, Italian block....yet.

When that supper emergency call comes in, I ask, "Do you have this, this, this or this?" If he has at least two on the list, we've hit a home run.  I will now give my dear foodie readers this gem of advice...Keep a bag of shrimp or a small bag of ready-made meatballs or a package of grilled & ready chicken strips and any frozen veggie in your freezer. If you do, you will never be stumped on what to cook tonight.

The recipe in today's post is simple, quick and tasty. The trick is season, season, season the few ingredients needed and you will enjoy this meal, heartily! It serves 1, so double or triple as needed.

Shrimp, Grape Tomatoes, & Pasta

6 large to jumbo shrimp, cooked or if fresh, deveined and tail removed
6 Grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
1 Tablespoon olive oil + extra
1 handful fresh basil
1/2 cup broth, any flavor
3 cloves garlic
salt, pepper & garlic powder
angel hair pasta, enough for one serving OR
Rice sticks/noodles, yes, rice sticks
(I'm eating less wheat these days)

Put cleaned shrimp in a small bowl with garlic powder, salt, pepper and a bit of olive oil. Mix & set aside.  Begin cooking pasta according to directions. While pasta is cooking, drizzle Tbs. of oil in a pan and saute garlic cloves for about 2 minutes. Add grape tomatoes, sprinkled with a bit of salt and more garlic powder, and saute for 3 minutes. Add shrimp and cook approx. 3 minutes on each side. If  using pre-cooked shrimp then saute only 2 minutes.

Slowly add broth while gently stirring all browned bits together with broth. Simmer 2 minutes. Add fresh basil and simmer 1 minute. Drain pasta well.
Serve shrimp mixture over the pasta with a side salad and enjoy!
*you can add more broth, but first be sure to scrape together all those tasty brown bits in the pan, then add more broth.

Remember To Make Memories At The Table

Shrimp & Bok Choy

Shrimp & Bok Choy ready to devour!

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Bok Choy in skillet

Bok Choy cooked. White of Bok Choy darkens
due to mushrooms & soy sauce

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To Be Or Not To Be...A Foodie (Shrimp & Peas Couscous)

A non-foodie orders a meal in a restaurant and just eats and enjoys it. A foodie orders a meal in a restaurant and dissects the ingredients so it can be recreated at home. I am that foodie. Some eat to live....that's my husband Steve. Some live to eat...that's me, his wife. Steve tries something new, usually at the end of my fork as I stick it in his face and comments, "Pretty good." I try something new and exclaim, "Oh my God, this is unbelievable." My eyes nearly pop out of my face. Steve, well, he just shakes his head and smiles indulgently. How can two people be so different, yet so much in love....do ya hear that, honey?
Let's take a walk down Memory Lane....I was born at a very young age....the third child of seven. You ate what was put in front of you. There was no...this child doesn't like this or that child won't eat that. If lentils were put in front of you...you ate lentils. You could sit at the table for three hours and gag, but you still ate that bowl of lentils. I now love lentils. We pretty much ate in silence and listened to Mom and Dad chat. "Children should be seen and not heard" unless one was asked a direct question. Actually, this wasn't at all unpleasant. We learned to listen...we learned what made our parents tick, we learned respect, self-control and good behavior.  It was a time for my parents to have adult conversation, plan out loud and have the opportunity to look at their kids, really "see" their kids and be proud of them.  Believe me when we weren't at the table...the chatter never stopped. At some point in the day, my parents heard everything that went on in our lives...er, almost everything.
This blog's recipe comes from the original point I was trying to make.... foodies dissect their meal...blah, blah, blah. Each day at work, we receive the daily faxed menu from local delis so we can order lunch beforehand. We rarely do. But boy do we memorize, discuss and debate each dish they'll serve that day. 
Although, the usual fax menu is panini, salads, sandwiches, soup, chili, pasta dishes and wraps..one day a particular dish jumped off the page. It didn't have an actual name like Eggplant Rollatini or Chicken Caesar Wrap just Grilled Shrimp over Couscous with Broccoli and Pistachios. That was good enough for me! I actually had all the ingredients in my cupboard or freezer. It being Friday, when Steve has his homemade meatball pizza and I put together whatever I can lay my hands on...this was a perfect meal to try. I figured it out, changed a few ingredients and got it right on the first try. Was mine as good as the deli that inspired this meal? "Oh, my God it was unbelievable!"

Shrimp Couscous Peas & Pistachios
1 box couscous
1 can (14 1/2oz) chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pistachios
1 cup peas
1 doz shrimp, peel, clean/devein
1 cup flour seasoned with salt garlic powder & onion powder
2-3 T Crisco oil
1 T butter
1. Cook couscous according to directions but substitute broth for water 1 1/4 cup. Stir very well and add Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
2. Cook peas seasoned with salt, garlic powder & onion powder
3. Heat Crisco oil. Dredge shrimp in seasoned flour. Brown until cooked through and golden 3-4 min each side.
4. Warm 1/4 cup of remaining broth in a cup in microwave and add to cooked couscous. Stir and add a pat of butter.
5. To Plate: Put couscous on a platter, top with peas and pistachios then top with shrimp.

Enjoy...And Remember To Make Memories At The Table