Artichoke Rice Salad with Shrimp

Last week I wrote about the lemon blossoms that I saw on a Paula Deen TV show where she made different foods for a dinner party.  On that same show, Paula made an Artichoke Rice Salad with Shrimp and I printed that recipe to make in the future.  On a recent trip to the store, while we purchased our food for the week, I also purchased a few things so I could make this salad. 

I found a box of Chicken flavored Rice-a-Roni to purchase that pretty much matched the description that Paula gives in her recipe.  We also purchased some green onions, a green pepper, and a jar of pimiento-stuffed green olives.

In re-reading the directions in the recipe, though I can see that while I read all the instructions before I started, but I still missed the first step: browning the rice before cooking (it didn’t seem to matter).  I added the 2 1/2 cups of water to the skillet and then added the rice and seasoning and let it heat to a boil.

While the rice heated, I prepared the chopped green pepper, green onion, and green olives.  We have a mega-sized jar of artichoke hearts, so I got out about six ounces and quartered the pieces.  I put the 1/2 cup of mayonnaise in a small bowl and then added about 1 /4 cup of the marinade from the jar of artichoke hearts.  Instead of a whisk, I used a dinner spoon to mix the mayo and marinade together and it worked very well.

About this time, the rice was boiling, so I covered the skillet with a lid, and turned the heat to low so the rice could simmer for ten minutes.  Into a medium sized metal bowl I added all the chopped green ingredients, then added the mayonnaise mixture, and stirred it all together.  After making some over spiced recipes, I am leery about adding the full amount of spices, so I only added 1/2-teaspoon of the curry, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and just a dash of black pepper.

Once the rice was tender, I removed it from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes before adding the rice to the mixing bowl with the other ingredients.  I stirred everything together and then added the shrimp.  I used frozen pre-cooked shrimp that I had already defrosted so I just dumped them in and stirred.

This recipe can be served hot or cold, so I had a bite to eat of the salad while it was warm and thought it was very tasty.  My wife was delayed getting home, so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and popped it in the refrigerator.

For dinner we had the Artichoke Salad and lightly steamed asparagus.  I am glad that I only used half the amount of curry powder, as a full teaspoon would have overpowered the other flavors.  As I made it, we could pick out the flavor of the green olives, but the artichoke hearts were just a firm mass that tasted like curry.  The pieces of green pepper added a nice crunch to an otherwise soft dish.  The salad was still a little warm when we ate dinner, so we look forward to tasting it tomorrow after it is fully cooled and has some time for the flavors to mature.

Find the recipe at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/artichoke-rice-salad-with-shrimp-recipe/index.html

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Lemon Shrimp Lettuce Boats

While searching for shrimp recipes on the internet, I came across the recipe for Lime Shrimp Lettuce Wraps by Paula Deen.  When I went in the kitchen to make the recipe, I found that I needed to make a couple of substitutions because I didn’t have some of the ingredient.  I could have made a run to the store, but I decided to see how it would turn out.

My first change is the type citrus juice, the recipe calls for three-tablespoons of fresh lime juice, I didn’t have any limes, so I used three-tablespoons of Real Lemon juice from the refrigerator. 

My next change was in regards to the three-teaspoons of fresh grated ginger.  I thought that I had a piece of fresh ginger, but I couldn’t find it in the refrigerator, so I substituted one-teaspoon of ground ginger.  I know that ground spices are more potent than fresh spices, that is why I reduced the amount of ginger.

The third change was the red bell pepper.  When I was at the store a few days prior to making this recipe, I went to get a red pepper, and we saw the price was $4 a pepper.  No way were we going to buy those.  We had some mini-peppers at home that we had purchased from Costco and I substituted three small peppers for the one-half pepper specified in the recipe.

The next change was the recipe calls for a pound of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, and chopped.  I did not chop the shrimp but left them whole.  This was by accident, but when we ate the meal, we were glad that I did as we could see the shrimp and know what we were eating.

The last change was to replace the iceberg lettuce with heart of romaine lettuce that we use for all our salad.  The romaine lettuce has a better texture and tastes better than the iceberg

I started by getting out a medium sized bowl and mixing the three-tablespoons of lemon juice with two-tablespoons of vegetable oil, one-tablespoon lite soy sauce, one minced clove of garlic, and one-teaspoon of ground ginger.  I stirred this mixture together and added the rinsed shrimp into the bowl.  I stirred the shrimp with the sauce to make sure all the shrimp were coated, then covered the bowl with plastic wrap and placed it in the refrigerator to marinade the shrimp for thirty minutes.

While the shrimp were marinating, I diced my three small red and yellow peppers, a couple of green onions and opened a five-ounce can of water chestnuts, drained the can and chopped the chestnuts.  I mixed the peppers, onions, and water chestnuts in a bowl and set them aside.

I decided to use our new ten-inch stainless steel skillet and set it on the cook top on medium-high heat.  Once the pan was hot, I added about a tablespoon of grape seed oil.  Into the hot oil, I poured the vegetables to cook for about three minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the vegetables were cooked, I added the shrimp and marinade into the skillet and stirred while cooking for another three minutes.  Once the shrimp were cooked (pink in color), I added another tablespoon of the soy sauce and stirred everything together.

I had already cleaned and prepared romaine lettuce leaves and had them ready on our plates.  I spooned about 1/3 cup of the shrimp mixture onto the lettuce and we sat down to eat.  The prepared romaine lettuce leave looked like little boats sitting on the plate and the romaine lettuce leaves do not roll very well, so we pinched the sides up and ate them like a taco.

We both enjoyed eating our “boats” they were a little messy with the juice running out the end, but still delicious.  The lemon was a good choice and next time I will try the fresh lime juice.  We were both glad that I only used one–teaspoon of the ground ginger, any additional would have been too overpowering for the shrimp.

After we finished eating, we had some of the shrimp and sauce left over.  I added this to a bowl in the refrigerator that contained the leftover angel hair pasta from the previous shrimp recipe: Lime Pasta with Roasted Shrimp.

Later, we really enjoyed eating the leftover shrimp and pasta.  The new ginger/lemon sauce had marinated the noodles and added an oriental flavor to the entire dish that enhanced the both the pasta and the shrimp. 

I will be making this recipe again, but I will double the recipe and use the leftovers for mixing with pasta.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Lime Pasta with Roasted Shrimp

The other day I went searching for new recipes to try.  I knew that I wanted to make something with shrimp and that I had a lime in the refrigerator from which I had removed all the zest so I needed to juice it.  I searched on the internet and found two shrimp recipes to try, so I went on a shopping trip to the local fish market: Oregon Seafood, and purchased two pounds of peeled and veined shrimp (I’m learning).  This is a recipe that I found on the Food Network and is provided by Ina Garten the Barefoot Contessa.

The Lemon Pasta with Roasted Shrimp recipe calls for two pounds of shrimp and two lemons.  I only wanted to use one pound of the shrimp and had the one lime, so I though I would halve the recipe.

I was surprised how quickly this dish cooks.  I put water in a pan to boil for the noodles, and set the temperature for our small lower oven to 400 degrees.  I rinsed and dried the shrimp then seasoned with salt, pepper, then added about a teaspoon of grape seed oil and spread the shrimp on a cookie sheet.

I decided to make the salad for this meal so I pulled the items out of the refrigerator to start cleaning and chopping.  I realized that I needed to hold off putting the noodles in the water or the shrimp in the oven because they would finish cooking before I could complete the salad.

Once the salad was just about completed, I put the shrimp in the oven to roast for seven minutes.  I also added about a tablespoon of grape seed oil to the boiling water.  The recipe called for one pound of angel hair pasta and the package I used was 14.5 ounces.  I decided at the last minute to add all the noodles to the water to cook.  The recipe specified only cooking the pasta for three minutes, but I let it cook for four minutes and I’m glad I did, any less cooking time and the pasta would have been unpleasantly crunchy.

Once I drained the noodles (reserving some of the water per the recipe to add back later), I added the butter, salt, pepper, 1/4-cup of olive oil, and the juice from the one lime and mixed everything together, then added the shrimp into the pot with the noodles and it was time to serve.

The shrimp had a great taste and were cooked to perfection: not overcooked and rubbery or “fishy” tasting.  The pasta had a good flavor, but I had cut the ingredients for the sauce (butter, oil, lime juice, and spices) in half but kept almost the standard volume of pasta and as a result the pasta ended up a little dry.  We found that a small amount of the Newman’s Own® Cesar salad dressing we used on the salad, added just that little bit of extra moisture that the pasta sauce was missing.

I will make this recipe again, it is fast and easy to make.  Next time I make the recipe, even if I reduce the amount of shrimp, I will add the recommended amounts of ingredients next time I make the pasta to make sure it has the necessary sauce content.  I may try the recipe with lemons and see if that makes a difference.  Either lemon or lime, I’m sure we will enjoy the results.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Shrimp Scampi with Artichokes and Basil

When I woke up this morning I could smell the scent of garlic on my pillow, then I remembered last night’s wonderful dinner of shrimp.  We have tried cooking shrimp before frozen from the bag or from our local grocery store, and the results are less than satisfactory.  Typically, the shrimp either are fishy smelling (old) or have no flavor at all, so why bother.

In preparation for cooking this dinner, I visited the local fish market and purchased two pounds of medium shrimp.  I could have purchased slightly smaller shrimp that were already shelled and de-veined, but I though I would do that work myself and save the extra $1 per pound.

Last night my wife and I returned from our 3-mile walk, and I started right in to shelling and de-veining the two pounds of shrimp.  An hour later, I was ready to start cooking!  What a tedious job that is, next time I will take the smaller shrimp and pay a little bit more.

This is a Paula Deen recipe from page 67 in The Deen Family Cookbook, so of course I started with the full stick of butter as directed.  Next time I would use about 3 /4-stick of butter and the results should still be great.  I heated the butter over medium-high heat, added the garlic, and cooked for about a minute.

Next into the frying pan went the 1 /3-cup of the white wine, some red pepper flakes (next time I will only use about 10 flakes), salt, and pepper.  This simmered for a couple of minutes.  While that was simmering, I dried the shrimp and squeezed out one third cup of basil paste.  When I went to the store to get the basil, there was no fresh basil, but a basil paste that comes in a squeeze tube.  So, I got that to try, why not! 

I quickly hand juiced a lemon that was in the refrigerator that I had already zested the outside for another meal.  I finally managed to open the giant jar of artichoke hearts that we had purchased at Costco.  The recipe calls for one cup of artichoke heart pieces, I added about one and a half cups, and next time I will add two cups to balance the shrimp.  I will also cut the artichoke pieces into smaller sections as some were to large. 

Into the frying pan went the shrimp and artichoke hearts and while it cooked, I stirred together all the ingredients until the shrimp turned pink.  Removing the frying pan from the heat, I stirred in the lemon juice and the basil paste.

I served the shrimp with the artichokes and basil sauce over brown rice with raw baby carrots on the side.  The flavor of the shrimp was fantastic!  The lemon and basil made a flavorful sauce on the shrimp and rice.  There was a little too much fire in the sauce, so as I mentioned, next time I will reduce the amount of red pepper flakes.

This recipe will easily serve four people and we have quite a bit left over for our lunch.  This recipe is quick to make (with pre-peeled and de-veined shrimp) and tastes wonderful.  It is a recipe that I will definitely will make again.

What do you think?  Should this recipe be served on the red (above) or the white plate?

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell