jim brentar dinner report 30 aug 2013 Friday is fish day! Who sez? Me. But you don’t have to eat fish on Friday. You can eat it everyday or not all if you like. I like fish. I was raised Catholic. My Dad never really got into the Vatican II reforms. He liked fish on Fridays. So, it is a habit... but a good habit! Fish is high in protein, often has the “good” oils your body needs (and less of the “bad” fats), and it’s tasty and easy to cook. (yes, I know about overfishing, frankenfish, and toxins that can build up in fish, but I still like fish once a week or so.) So, go to the store. Look at the fish. See which ones speak to me. Yes, food sometimes talks to me. But please don’t hold that against me. Today, it was the shrimp that spoke the loudest. Raw, peeled and deveined, and on sale at a really good price. Why peeled and deveined? Surely I could peel and devein the shrimp myself? Right? Pain in the @$$! And I’m sure I could do it, even though I’ve never done it before. But it would be a pain. And the P&D shrimp was on sale. And there’s that poetry reading at 7 that I wanted to get to. For those of you with gout, shrimp is moderate in purines. Not high, moderate. Okay to eat in moderation. Balance it out with veggies (see below). Lots of ways to cook shrimp. On the grill is easy. Breaded and fried is yummy. Kabobs? On pizza? With pasta? I chose to go with a quick sauté. How quick? Three words: DON’T OVERCOOK IT! Overcook it and it will become tough and rubbery. Two minutes per side is usually plenty. When it becomes opaque and slightly pink, it’s done. Okay, sauté shrimp and set aside (in a pan with foil covering to keep warm). What to have with it? Let’s open the mystery basket of ingredients! Or in other words, look in the fridge and pantry and see what we have that we need to use before it goes bad. Bought some Szalay Farm sweet corn the other day. Yum. That works. (Once again, I started water boiling before anything else!) Got some cherry tomatoes that are starting to get wrinkly and no good for salad. Must be cooked. Does that mean pasta? Doesn’t really go with corn on the cob too well. Also, we’ve got some b-sized potatoes that are starting to grow eyes. Lots of eyes. The potatoes have eyes!!! Bwahhh hah hah... Okay, potatoes and tomatoes. Do those even go together? YES!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of different ways! I decided to go with a quick (very quick) stewed vegetable medley to serve the shrimp over. DIGRESSION: “Stew” usually means you simmer it for a while—maybe even all day long in the crock pot. However, you can do a quick stew too. How quick? How quickly can you clean/peel/chop veggies? First, let’s get in the time machine. Before I sautéed the shrimp. Before I cleaned the corn and started it boiling. I grabbed the vegetables I wanted and started cleaning them. I started with the ones that need to cook longest, carrots and potatoes and onions (all got cleaned). Also grabbed some garlic, bell pepper, zucchini, summer squash, celery, and a little bit of spinach (not yet cleaned, except the bell pepper). Time tour over. How quick? There’s still that poetry reading to get to! JIM’S BIG HINT OF THE WEEK: it can be really extra super quick if you clean and/or chop some of the veggies while the others are sautéing in the pan. Did I mention that I sprinkled some salt (just a pinch), pepper, parsley, and Old Bay on the shrimp before sautéing? Always add some extra flavor! And always read recipes through before starting to cook! DIGRESSION: Old Bay is proprietary blend of spices that works great on seafood. But you already knew that. Okay! The same pan that I used for the shrimp. A little extra oil. The veggies go in based on how long it takes them to cook. Carrots first! Chop onions garlic and potatoes while stirring occasionally. Onions next. Then garlic (more for the flavor than for the need to cook it longer). Then the potatoes (yes, I scrubbed them and cut the eyes out). I probably should have put the tomatoes in early, too. But I didn’t. I’m not perfect. And tomatoes are still safe and yummy even when slightly undercooked. Zucchini and summer squash next. Then bell pepper. Then tomatoes. Again, I cleaned and chopped the zuke and squash while the potatoes were starting to cook. I chopped the bell pepper (the one thing already cleaned) while the zuke & squash were in the pan, and I washed the cherry tomatoes while the bell pepper joined the party. More proof that I’m not perfect: I should’ve cut the cherry tomatoes in half. I didn’t. I guess I’m chopped... ; ) Spinach next? No! Spinach cooks in seconds. Besides, I was letting it soak in a two-stage cleaning. Instead, I added a can of diced tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes were too few; I wanted more. Tomatoes! Acidity? Can be countered easily with a little sweetness. I added a tbsp of honey and a tsp of brown sugar. I recommend a little sweetness when you’re cooking tomatoes! By now the heat should be on high or at least medium high. Get it boiling. Let it boil, not simmer. It’s a quick stewing. Add a little vegetable stock if you need/want more liquid. Take a moment to set the table. Don’t forget to stir. Did I mention that I also added some salt, pepper, parsley and Old Bay to the veggies? Always read the recipe thru before starting to cook. Okay, now the spinach! Here’s a gourmet touch: add a little chopped fresh parsley at/towards the end of cooking. Fresh herbs are always good to add at the end! Another gourmet touch: Dump the shrimp in with the veggies for less than a minute (don’t over cook them). Don’t stir. Leave the shrimp right on top. Just a minute and take them right back out! Just let the veggies get some shrimp flavor and the shrimp get some veggie flavor. And were all done except for the plating. A base of stewed veggies in a pasta bowl or large flat soup bowl. The gourmet touch: artfully arrange the shrimp on top in a spiral pattern (all the shrimp facing the same way). Gourmet touch: garnish with a little more chopped fresh parsley and also a nice-looking sprig of parsley, too! Gourmet touch: some good thick crusty bread to sop up the veggie juices! Gourmet meal! Sautéed shrimp over quick-stewed vegetable medley with a side of corn on the cob (which you, of course, put into the boiling water 10 minutes before everything else was done). If you can clean/peel/chop reasonable efficiently, should take a half hour or less. We made it to the poetry reading on time—well, about ten or fifteen minutes late, but he started late so we can say we were on time. And Mary Kay’s extra-secret secret will have to wait for another time. Or, as Mary Kay would say, “Buy the cookbook!”
Posted on: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 04:31:51 +0000
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