Shrimp And Garlic Pasta

It's Wednesday! So you know what that means: no hubby and some type of vegetarian or vegetable-laden food. Today it is shrimp with a garlic cream sauce; I really wanted carrots in it, but I didn't have any so I used broccoli. Trust me! Broccoli is so sweet in a meal like this, it's like buttah.

You will need:

1 Tbsp butter
1 small onion
6 oz mushrooms about 2 cups sliced
10 garlic cloves (I am using Chesnok red, because it is ah-MAZE-ing)
1/2 c white wine
2 c broccoli florets (tiny!)
Salt, pepper
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 c homogenized (3.25%) milk
400 g shrimp / prawns
170 g whole grain linguine
Pinch finishing salt (optional)

Prep! Slice your mushrooms, floret-ize (is that a word?) your broccoli, meaning cut them into small trees, mince your garlic, amazing or otherwise, peel and de-vein your shrimp. Boil and salt a pot of water for your pasta. I'm using linguine, but use whatcha got.

Heat the butter in a large saucepan (not non-stick. sticky), cook the onions and mushrooms together at medium heat until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add in the garlic, cook for one minute more. Just one!

Add in the wine, scraping up any nummy bits on the bottom. Add in the broccoli, salt and pepper, cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes, until the wine is mostly gone.

Sprinkle on the flour, stirring to coat.

Slowly add the milk, covering just the bottom of the pan at each addition, stirring until all is added. Cook for 3-5 minutes until somewhat thickened. Taste! Probably pepper, right? Salt too, most likely.

Add in the shrimp, stirring until heated through, 3-5 minutes. You can tell they are cooked through because they will turn pink. Stop then. Don't overcook your shrimp. Nobody likes rubbery shrimp.  No.body.

Drain your pasta, plate away. This makes 4 servings and comes in at 344 calories each, including the pasta, which is not bad! Add a salad and dressing, maybe a bun, Bob's your uncle!

 

Special side note: I have an absolutely embarrassing amount of finishing salts and this is the perfect dish on which to use them. I used a Smoked Chardonnay Oak finishing salt here, but any fancy salt would add an extra punch of amazing.

Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise

I really like this recipe because it makes a small batch, only aboot 8 ounces, so you can make it regularly and try different variations. Much more wieldy than the 2-litre batch I remember from cooking school.

You will need:

Saturday: Crab Cakes with Caesar Salad

I haven't decided whether or not I will be making the Caesar salad; I am the only salad-eater in the hizz-ouse. This is something I typically make when we have people over, but shutdown is making us shut-ins. However! I will post the recipe, crab cakes are still on. These are nice and crunchy yet flavourful and not too fussy.

You will need:

1 lb crab meat (real or imitation**)
3/4 c bread crumbs, either whole wheat, whole grain bread crumbs or panko
6 green onions
3 Tbsp light mayonnaise
2 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped
2 Tbsp 1% milk
2 Tbsp egg whites (about 1 if you are using an actual egg)
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp all-purpose or whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp butter

This is another throw-together dish, you will want to start at least an hour before you want to be noshing. If you are planning to make the salad as well, start now by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees.

Start your cakes! Mix your crab, breadcrumbs, green onions, mayo, parsley, egg whites, milk, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper together in a large-ish bow.

**A note about what type of crab to use: you want a somewhat flaky one, and since the star of the show is the crab, you may want to go with real crab. However, if you live a long way from a large body of water like myself, the expense can be prohibitive. I used what turned out to be a rubbery imitation crab and it was much more difficult to work with than other types I have used in the past. If you do end up with something kinda rubbery, make sure you really squeeze it when forming the rounds, it should help everything stay together.

Wet your hands and form the mixture into 8 round cakes. Place on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. Start your Caesar dressing!

You will need:

1 thinly slice whole grain whole wheat bread
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp garlic powder
Romaine lettuce
2 to 4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (or any oil, I am just excited to be able to use mine!)
2 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed if you have it, about 2 lemons
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp anchovy paste
1/4 tsp sugar
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper - to taste
2 Tbsp parmesan

Melt your butter, spread on both sides of the bread. Sprinkle on your garlic powder and bake in your pre-heated oven for 7 minutes, flip and turn off the oven, cook for 7-8 more minutes, until golden. Ish. Alternatively, should you not want to use powdered garlic, you could leave it off and when the bread comes out of the oven, rub it all over with a cut garlic clove. Either way, cut it into crouton-sized pieces while it is still warm.

Whisk the oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic cloves, mustard, anchovy paste, sugar, salt and cayenne / pepper in a bowl until fully combined. Taste and add more oil / seasonings as required. You can use right away, but I find the flavours develop if left for a little while. Refrigerate whatever you aren't going to use.

Back to the crab cakes! Dump your flour in a cake / pie pan and coat both sides of the cakes.

Melt the butter in a non-stick pan, cook each crab cake until golden and a leetle crunchy, 4-5 minutes per side. Don't crowd your pan, so if you don't have a monster-sized cooking surface, do it in batches.

Back to the salad! Toss the dressing with the romaine lettuce, sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese and croutons. Done!

I came up with a calorie count for one fourth of the dressing and croutons and two crab cakes and got 368 calories. Mind you, as always, this is somewhat subjective as I am using my own bread and checking my own labels. It's a ballpark!



Enjoy!

 

 

Garlicky Bean Stew

I haven't done a vegetarian meal for awhile, as I was trying to figure out how to work them around my resident carnivore. I decided to make all of my veggie faves for lunches for myself, and let the fella and kiddos try them as they want, not for a full supper. This is fast and has a tonne of fibre. And garlic, so who's gonna be fragrant and regular? You are!

You will need:

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 c green pepper, chopped
1 c orange or yellow or red pepper, chopped
4 cloves, minced, or 1 tablespoon jarred - remember that some garlic is packed in oil, so judge yourself accordingly
1/8 tsp chili flakes (more of a guideline than a rule)
1/4 tsp dried sage
2 15-oz cans white kidney beans (cannellini) or other white beans
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
Sat, pepper

First, chop your peppers and mince your garlic. Or scoop it, whatever, no judgement.

Drain and rinse your beans but leave the tomatoes in their juice. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the peppers together for about 5 minutes, until soft-ish.

Add the garlic and chili flakes, cook for just one more minute. Just one! Add in 1/2 c water, the sage, beans, diced tomatoes and season with the salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes, until the it smells amazing and has thickened somewhat.

This was so good with a slice of homemade whole grain whole wheat bread with a teeny tiny bit o butter. I split this into 6 servings at 209 calories each, with the bread and butter, I could have even thrown in a salad with goat cheese and still been under the recommended 400 - 500 calorie meal guideline. Yay us!

Neeeaaaarrr!!

Far!