Tuesday Night Dinner

A Tuesday night dinner collage


Salad of spinach, broccoli slaw mix, shredded carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.


homemade garlic bread


Spaghetti noodles tossed with garlic, diced tomatoes, and zucchini.


Baked tilapia with lemon and dill


Garlicky Baked Shrimp

Carrie: ICBC Garlic

For Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Garlic, I settled on this Garlicky Baked Shrimp recipe I found on Gimme Some Oven. The recipe is originally from Real Simple. It was delicious. Outstandingly delicious. I couldn't sing the praises of this recipe enough. And it was so easy.

Ingredients
shrimp, peeled and deveined
white wine
panko bread crumbs
melted butter
minced garlic

Peel and devein the shrimp. Toss with minced garlic and a couple tablespoons of white wine. Melt butter in a small bowl and then mix in panko bread crumbs. Put shrimp in single layer on a baked dish and spread panko bread crumbs on top. Bake in a 425 degree oven until shrimp is cooked through, roughly 12-15 minutes. If desired, broil the last couple minutes to crisp the bread crumbs on top a little more.

Carrie: Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Spaghetti Squash

I was kind of excited when Erica chose spaghetti squash. It's a squash I've never tried cooking, but have always been kind of intrigued by the thought of it. I was not in love with how long I had to roast it in the oven, but I think there are some microwave options out there. So, in order to crack open your spaghetti squash and make it easy to take apart, you throw it in a 400 degree oven for at least 45 minutes to an hour. When it's finished, you can cut it in half, dig out the seeds, and then pull at the squash with a fork to removed the strands of squash. I have to say, it did produce plenty of "spaghetti."


I was originally going to make a spaghetti squash gratin recipe I found this morning, but then was too hungry to wait another 30 minutes while it baked. Instead, I tossed my squash with a smear of butter, in bacon grease, with thinly sliced bacon, shrimp, a little lemon juice, thyme, salt, minced garlic and red chili flakes. It was okay. My sister liked it and said she would eat it again. I could probably be persuaded to try it again covered in a nice marinara or as the gratin. On the side, I served some sauteed garlic green beans. It totally does look just like pasta! Tricky squash.

Carrie: Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Alcohol

I'm a couple weeks behind, I know. I'm juggling a lot, but these are getting done, I swear! For this challenge, I made shrimp in white wine and then tossed it with some pasta and diced tomatoes. I'd give you a recipe, but I didn't really use one. I peeled some shrimp, threw it in a pan with olive oil, cook till they were pink, then added some butter, minced garlic, and white wine. Let it simmer and the wine reduce, then toss it all with thin spaghetti and a can of diced tomatoes. It was good. I don't really know if the wine added anything or not, but while the shrimp was cooking in it, I thought you could get drunk off the scent.

Sarah: Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Grapefruit

First off- I am sorry for falling so so behind on these challenges. I am working very hard to catch up, but life is really crazy at the moment. I'll be caught up soon, promise.

Second off- I'm calling defeat. This was an EPIC fail. I am not going to even give you the recipe.

I made this iceberg lettuce, ruby red grapefruit, pasta, shrimp concoction for family dinner last week. I can only play that they let me cook again.

Pasta a la Betsy, and Sarah, and Brandon

1 lb penne pasta

1 lb large shrimp

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small white onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Dried basil

"Season All"

Garlic powder

Cayenne Pepper

Sweet Cooking Sherry

1. Peel shrimp, rub with a good amount of Season All, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet. Cook shrimp until opaque. Put to the side. Start to cook penne as per the box.

2. In a pot melt butter and add olive oil. Put in the onion and garlic. Cook till onions are opaque.

3. Pour in tomato sauce and reduce heat to low. Stir to combine.

4. Pour in cream. Stir to combine and take heat to a simmer.

5. Cut up shrimp, add to the pot. Stir to combine. Add parsley.

6. Now comes the feel it out part. Add 3 swigs of Sherry, some salt and a dash of cayenne pepper. Add lots of basil. Taste. Add more of anything as you see fit.

7. Add in the penne and mix (being sure to mix from the bottom so that all scoops will get shrimp and onions.

---REVIEW---

So... it started out that Brandon wanted to make a zesty tomato sauce with penne and shrimp. And then I whined, because I've been in a bit of a whining mood lately. Then he told me to come up with something better and I thought of Pioneer Woman's "Pasta a la Betsy".

But... I didn't have wine (and the grocery stores in Denver don't sell wine... and liquor stores aren't open on Sunday nights), so there was a bit of improvising going on.

As in all of Brandon's wonderful recipes (or non-recipes) the amounts of everything that you put into this sauce should be done according to how you want it to taste (Except the Sherry, because that was my addition not his, and I really like following recipes and I made up adding it in. Use three swigs. Live with it.).

Wednesday Night Dinner: Angelhair with Garlic and Tomato and Shrimp

Maybe eventually I'll remember to work on my presentation, but for now, just be glad I remembered to take a picture. I wasn't supposed to make dinner this week so I had to come up with something in a day, instead of normally spending days mulling over what I want to make. I also didn't want to have to go grocery shopping and spend loads of money so I had to come up with something using ingredients in my house. So I prepared basically a Caesar salad (hearts of romaine and spinach with Parmesan and Caesar dressing), garlic bread and angelhair tossed with olive oil, minced garlic, and a can of diced tomatoes with grilled chicken and shrimp. It was a really delicious meal and easy preparation.

I kind of made this up as I went along (as I generally do a lot of my homemade recipes), but the general idea is mince up some garlic cloves, prepare the pasta, heat a skillet or saute pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil, throw in your minced garlic and let it cook for a couple minutes, then throw in your pasta, toss it around, add a couple more tablespoons of olive oil if necessary, and then add in some diced tomatoes and let it cook for a couple more minutes to warm the tomatoes. I prepared the chicken and shrimp on the side so that each person could add which protein they wanted, but you could probably just as easy also toss in already cooked chicken or shrimp in order to serve it all together in one dish. And then throw some Parmesan on top because everything's better with a little bit of cheese.

Wednesday Night Dinners: Shrimp with Shallot-Tarragon Sauce

I've been taking a break from cooking the last couple Wednesday night dinners and finally jumped back in this week to test out a recipe from my new cookbook. As a birthday present, Vanessa gave me Bon Appetit's Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook. I served a Shrimp with Shallot-Tarragon Sauce on Wilted Spinach and a side of Grilled Brie and Tomato on Crusty Bread. Two thumbs up on both recipes and I was impressed with how quickly the shrimp dish came together. It looks really fancy but cooked really quickly.



Shrimp with Shallot-Tarragon Sauce on Wilted Spinach
(from Bon Appetit's Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook, page 350)

10 uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
5 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon, divided
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger, divided
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots (about 2 large)
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 6-ounce package fresh baby spinach

Toss shrimp, parsley, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 teaspoons tarragon, and 1 teaspoon ginger in medium bowl. Sprinkle mixture with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallots, saute 5 minutes. Add shrimp mixture; saute until shrimp are almost cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add butter and cream; bring just to simmer. Add remaining 1 teaspoon ginger. Season with salt and pepper. Set shrimp aside.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in another large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add spinach and remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss until just wilted, about 25 seconds. Mound spinach in center of plates; surround with shrimp and sauce. Sprinkle shrimp with remaining 2 tablespoons tarragon.

Serves 2.

Grilled Brie and Tomato on Crusty Bread
(from Food Network)
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 (1/2 inch thick) slices of crusty bread
1/2 pound brie, sliced thin

Heat the broiler. Put the cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil them until they burst; set aside.

Butter the bread on both sides and top each with several slices of brie. Broil until the cheese is bubbling and slightly browned. Top with the tomatoes. Serve immediately.