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.

Sometime This Week: Shrimp Stir Fry

I feel like a good, basic stir fry recipe is important. It's a way to get a boatload of veggies on your plate with not a lot of calories and they are just so visually appealing.

 

 

This has shrimp as the protein but you could easily substitute chicken or beef, even tofu, if that is how you roll. 



 

You will need:

1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 c chicken stock (I am using no-salt added, but you could go with a vegetable stock also)
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
Tiny bit chili flakes (optional - even 1/4 tsp made it a little bit too spicy for kiddos)
2 tsp sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 c broccoli florets
1 carrot, sliced into coins
1yellow pepper, cut into strips
1 other pepper, green or red or both, cut into strips
3 green onions, sliced
400 g shrimp, whatever size you like (I went with jumbo, 26 pp)
2 c cooked brown rice

Not pictured: rice

First, lots of prep! Peel and cut your carrot into coins. Cut your broccoli into florets, slice your green onions into once-inch pieces. Slice your peppers into strips, peel your shrimp, mince your garlic and ginger.

Mix together the cornstarch and soy sauce in a medium-sized bowl, stirring until dissolved.

Stir in the broth, ginger and chili flakes (if using, I am telling you, spicy-city), set aside.

On to the frying! Heat the oil until it shimmers, add the garlic and cook, stirring until you can smell it - about 30 seconds.

Throw in the broccoli and carrot, cook for 3 minutes.

Add in the peppers and green onions, stir and cook for 3 more minutes.

Pour in the sauce, add in the shrimp and cook for 3 - 5 minutes until the shrimp is cooked and opaque and the sauce has thickened somewhat.

I separated this into 4 enormous portions at 329 each, including 1/2 c rice.

It was so pretty I had to take a picture mid-eating.

Enjoy!

Monday: Shrimp 'N' Noodles

I typically make this when I am running around all morning and get home and realise that I have nothing taken out for supper. Yay for shrimp thawing really quickly! You can either put them in the fridge for the day, or rinse them under cool water in a colander. Add some curry and egg noodles, and BAM! Dinner!

You will need:

6 ounces egg noodles ( I use No Yolks)

1 Tbsp butter

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 ½ tsp curry powder

¼ c dry white wine (or just use all chicken broth if you are serving kiddos)

¾ c low-sodium chicken broth

2 eggs

2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese 

3 Tbsp fresh mint

Salt, pepper

First, start cooking your egg noodles. Side note: if you bought peeled shrimp, good on ya, you lazy bugger. If you have to peel yours, reserve the shells. You can simmer them in a small pot with the chicken stock as a flavour enhancer. All you have to do is strain the stock before you use it in the sauce.

Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan and cook the shrimp, sprinkled with the curry powder (btw, I always use way more than 1 and a half teaspoons of curry) just until it is pink and cooked through, 2-3 minutes.

Add the wine (or chicken stock), bring to a boil and then add the broth. Drain your egg noodles and reserve.

Put the eggs and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl, gradually whisk in 1/2 c of the hot broth from the saucepan. When you are tempering (adding hot to cool then adding all back in), you want to go sloooowwwly. If you pour in too much of the hot too fast, you will end up with scrambled eggs, instead of a thickener for your sauce. 

Slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan, whisking the whole time. Faster, soldier! No scrambled eggs on our watch! Reduce the heat and add in the egg noodles, cook until the sauce has thickened and the noodles are warmed.

Sprinkle on the salt, pepper and chopped mint. I made 4 servings at 283 calories per. Add a salad or steamed vegetables, great supper under 500 calories, done!

Tuesday: Fish Almost-Pot Pie

New recipe alert! New recipe alert! Mreep mreep mreep! I haven't done this one before but I liked the simplicity of it and I am trying to find ways to work more fish and seafood into my week, besides salmon and shrimp. I actually found four similar recipes, so kind of combined them. Cross your fingers, let's try!

You will need:

12 oz halibut or haddock or similar whitefish - I am using basa filets because that's what I could find

2 Tbsp cornstarch

4 oz cooked, peeled shrimp - I got the fun bite-sized ones, but you can use any size, really

7 oz canned corn

3 oz frozen peas - or green beans, which is what I found when I thought I had peas

2/3 c skim or 1% milk

5 oz low-fat cream cheese - or low-fat fromage frais if you can find. Quark would probably even work

3 oz fresh whole wheat breadcrumbs 

1/2 c grated low-fat cheese

Salt, pepper, thyme

Imagine 2/3 c milk somewhere in there

Preheat your oven to 375, spray a glass dish with oil. Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces and toss in the cornstarch until coated.

Put the fish, shrimp corn and peas / green beans in the square dish.

Whisk the cream cheese (or fromage frais), milk and salt and pepper in a bowl, then pour on top of the fish mixture. I thought about using sour cream or greek yoghurt instead of the cream cheese, but yoghurt tends to curdle at high heat and as for sour cream...I wanted my husband to at least TRY supper.

It doesn't mix extraordinarily well, might look into a recipe for homemade fromage frais

Mix the breadcrumbs and cheese together, sprinkle over evenly. I made my own breadcrumbs by drying out my bread in a 200 degree oven for 10 minutes on a cookie sheet. I then tore the bread into chunks and processed them in my food processor. Or you know, just buy some. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbly. Serve with salad! I broke mine up into four pieces and it worked out to 350 calories per serving. DO NOT use that as guaranteed information, I used my own package information, my own bread and was able to add that up. It varies!

Tuesday: Shrimp Fried Rice

This is one of those dishes I thought would be tough; tricky to replicate the amazingness of a restaurant version, but I like this one better. Less msg, for one! I don't have prep pictures today; when digging through my freezer to pull out the shrimp I came across an entire Shrimp Fried Rice meal and felt it would be a little silly to make it all again.

You will need:

3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (Kikkoman does one widely available - green label)
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red chilies
3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled and de-veined
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 c finely chopped green onions
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
4 c cooked brown rice, chilled (day old is best)
1 1/2 c frozen green peas, thawed



Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl (soy sauce through red chilies), stir and set aside.



Heat 1 Tbsp of the vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan at medium-high heat. Cook the shrimp until the pink is gone, 4 minutes or less. Don`t overcook, these babies go rubbery in a heartbeat. Remove to a metal bowl, cover and keep warm.

Heat the remaining 2 Tbsp of oil, add the eggs and soft-scramble for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. I find this is one of those occasions that I can`t use my beloved spatulas; they are no bueno for eggs.

Stir in the green onions and ginger, cook for one more minute. Add the shrimp, soy sauce mixture rice and peas, cook until completely heated through, about 3 minutes. Done!

Faaaar

Near!