Seafood scares me. I don't eat a lot of it (sushi notwithstanding), so I've never been really comfortable around it. So when my wife said that she wanted seafood tonight, I was more than a little nervous. That's my new trick for forcing myself to try new recipes, by the way. I ask her to tell me what she wants for the meat in that day's meal, and then I look for a recipe. I can (and do) eat the same things all time, so I need some way to force me to stretch. My wife is always happy to make me try new things, so this scheme works out well.
Anyway, she wanted shrimp, so I started poking around. I found a shrimp creole recipe in my trusty Better Homes cookbook, but it sounded too much like the jambalaya I made the other night, so I settled on shrimp scampi.
Scampi, I gather, is Italian for "boiled in butter." This recipe calls for six tablespoons of butter! That's a whole lot of oil and dairy solids. I used the real stuff, too. I figure that I can get away with cooking with real butter as long as I don't do it too often. If I was making things with butter every day, I'd probably use spread, but since I don't use it too often, butter it is!
The other thing that I'm working on is learning to eyeball the ingredients. Other than the butter and the shrimp, I didn't actually measure a thing in this recipe. I imagine that this won't work for all recipes, and I know it won't work with baking, but for something like this, I figured it would be safe. As it turned out, I was right. The flavors were strong, but well-balanced, and we were both pleased. My guess is that I over-estimated all my ingredients in the same proportion, so I got away with it. My wife did suggest that I add a touch of Dijon mustard or some black pepper, but that was more in the way of variations. She did think to squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the shrimp after it was plated, and that really tied it all together. She also proposed an un-oaked Chardonnay to go with it, and it was perfect. Her taste in wine really is exquisite.
One thing I really did goof on with this meal was the heat. I had the peas on the back burner, and the shrimp on the front. Naturally, when I needed to turn down the heat under the peas because they were ready before the shrimp, I turned the wrong burner down! Fortunately, I do know what cooked shrimp looks like, having eaten a lot of it, so it came out all right in the end. Hmm. I wonder if the lower heat allowed the flavors of the garlic and onion to mesh with the shrimp a little more? I don't know enough about the chemistry to answer that.
The sugar peas were just steamed, and a little bit of salt sprinkled over them afterward. No big deal, but they went well with the shrimp.
My wife made a spinach salad with apples, bleu cheese, and balsamic vinegar dressing. She's made this a number of times, and I really like it. I much prefer spinach to lettuce.
Anyway, she wanted shrimp, so I started poking around. I found a shrimp creole recipe in my trusty Better Homes cookbook, but it sounded too much like the jambalaya I made the other night, so I settled on shrimp scampi.
Scampi, I gather, is Italian for "boiled in butter." This recipe calls for six tablespoons of butter! That's a whole lot of oil and dairy solids. I used the real stuff, too. I figure that I can get away with cooking with real butter as long as I don't do it too often. If I was making things with butter every day, I'd probably use spread, but since I don't use it too often, butter it is!
The other thing that I'm working on is learning to eyeball the ingredients. Other than the butter and the shrimp, I didn't actually measure a thing in this recipe. I imagine that this won't work for all recipes, and I know it won't work with baking, but for something like this, I figured it would be safe. As it turned out, I was right. The flavors were strong, but well-balanced, and we were both pleased. My guess is that I over-estimated all my ingredients in the same proportion, so I got away with it. My wife did suggest that I add a touch of Dijon mustard or some black pepper, but that was more in the way of variations. She did think to squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the shrimp after it was plated, and that really tied it all together. She also proposed an un-oaked Chardonnay to go with it, and it was perfect. Her taste in wine really is exquisite.
One thing I really did goof on with this meal was the heat. I had the peas on the back burner, and the shrimp on the front. Naturally, when I needed to turn down the heat under the peas because they were ready before the shrimp, I turned the wrong burner down! Fortunately, I do know what cooked shrimp looks like, having eaten a lot of it, so it came out all right in the end. Hmm. I wonder if the lower heat allowed the flavors of the garlic and onion to mesh with the shrimp a little more? I don't know enough about the chemistry to answer that.
The sugar peas were just steamed, and a little bit of salt sprinkled over them afterward. No big deal, but they went well with the shrimp.
My wife made a spinach salad with apples, bleu cheese, and balsamic vinegar dressing. She's made this a number of times, and I really like it. I much prefer spinach to lettuce.
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