Spicy Coconut Shrimp with Mango Basil Salsa

This post is brought to us by my friend Ginny Miller (who you may remember me mentioning in our chocolate zucchini bread post). Mother of two seriously cool little boys, her family lives most of the time in Northern California but is soon to make a summer move to North Dakota. Wait. What? California to the Dakotas? Maybe a little strange for the rest of us, but not if you're a beekeeper. And that, my friends, is exactly what Ginny's husband is.

Beekeeping gets me excited on a number of levels: 1) We wouldn't have much food without bees. Save the bees! I ♥ bees! I plant flowers and herbs and vegetables that will attract bees so they can happily pollinate the neighborhood. 2) What would the world be like without honey? I shudder to think of it. It makes me want to go buy barrels of honey to store in my closet...Dutch Gold honey because that's where the Miller family honey goes. 3) Being a beekeeper means you get to be around bees all the time...which means you get to be outside a lot. And you're kind of saving the planet, too. So the fact that Ginny and her husband made the decision to bring on the bees makes them that much cooler.

But I digress. Aside from being a beekeeping family, Ginny is a great cook and lover of good food. When we were lucky enough to live near each other, our conversations inevitably turned to food and travel. Eating while traveling. Eating food that makes you feel like you're traveling. Traveling for the food. All good options, if you ask me. So please welcome Ginny and enjoy what promises to be a superb combination of flavors.  I can't wait to try it.

Sushi Salad

About a year ago, the university where I teach added a sushi counter to their meager selection of lunch options. Huzzah, thought I, finally some food worth eating! It took about 2 weeks for it to be all the rage on campus, which, naturally, equaled really expensive sushi. But still people bought it, myself included. I thought about making some myself at home, but knowing I'd have to roll it up and manage to make it look moderately attractive seemed like a daunting task.

And then I found this recipe on the back of my rice bag- no rolling required. Perf. I felt a little pang of guilt for lack of authenticity eating "sushi" as a salad instead of a slices from a roll, but the lack of effort made it totally worth it.

Now the day I made this I did a very stupid thing involving a large blob of wasabi (Japanese horseradish) on a very inexperienced tongue. I've eaten a fair amount of wasabi in my day, but seldom purchased it. As this salad definitely requires some good strong horseradish, I went to the store and bought the first tube I could find, opened it up, squeezed out a bit onto my finger, and stuck it in my mouth. Begin fire in the mouth. It started with a burning sensation on my tongue and in my mouth, flowed back down my throat, and then swooshed back up through my mouth and into my sinuses. I nearly exploded. And then, just like that, the burning was gone. Truth be told, it was a pretty awesome experience, but not one I intend to repeat any time in the near future. It will be small dots of wasabi from now on- if you've never had wasabi, I really recommend trying it out. Just do so with caution.

Saffron Orzo with Shrimp

The other day I was home early from work, in the mood to cook, but not wanting anything heavy or difficult to make. And seeing the shrimp on this blog last week made me crave them even more (sadly, Caroline made her shrimp without me). So I hopped on my scooter, zipped down to the store, and promptly became quite irate when there was no shrimp to be found. I know the grocery store by my house is bad, but really? No shrimp?!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

Really there is hardly a fresher fragrance than fresh limes and cilantro. Add a bit of garlic, a few spices and oil and you have yourself a deliciously fragrant marinade...in this case for shrimp. I was at the grocery store the other day and saw some cilantro-lime shrimp for sale - it looked delicious. But I thought, hey, I could make something like that at home and for much less money; this recipe is what I came up with.

We had the shrimp as a light lunch with the yogurt dipping sauce I made, but this recipe could be very versatile. I think these shrimp and the marinade would make an excellent sauce for an angel hair pasta drizzled in olive oil and perhaps some browned butter. Or, they would make a lovely hors d'oeuvres for your next book club or bridal shower. The beuty is you could very easily double the recipe to make more and keep the leftovers for a mid-afternoon snack. Either way, you won't regret squeezing lime juice and cutting cilantro in your kitchen to remind you that it isn't winter yet.

Shrimp and Rice-Noodle Stir-Fry

The other night I was craving shrimp, but I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted them prepared. I considered grilling them, but I knew I needed to eat something besides just grilled shrimp. So I thought I might fall back on one of my old favorites, Linguine with Shrimp Scampi, but I wanted something new, something different.

That'w when I remembered seeing some rice noodles in a friends cupboard recently and decided to start from there. Actually, I had never prepared rice noodles before, but I had eaten them at restaurants and figured they couldn't be too hard to fix, and it turned out I was correct. They start out dry and stiff  (pictured above) just like regular semolina noodles, but rather than boiling them, you can just soak them in water, and then cook them a few minutes longer in broth, in a stir-fry, or you can boil them.

Poblano Stuffed with Chorizo, Shrimp and Rice

Here is a variation on a typical stuffed peppers. It includes several different types of peppers and cheese. The thing that makes it the most unique, in my opinion, is the inclusion of shrimp.

I was not able to follow this recipe exactly as it is listed, because I was unable to find a couple of ingredients. I could not find chorizo cheese or poblano chiles at my local store, so I had to leave those out. Instead I stuffed green bell peppers and pasillo peppers, which worked out well. I served these peppers as a side, but they are quite filling and could be served as a light dinner. I hope that you will enjoy them...oh and one more thing, the recipe does not call for any salt, but I would definitely add a teaspoon while cooking. Enjoy!

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

I have been loving shrimp lately, and so I was so happy when I found this recipe and it turned out to be so delicious. This recipe really is super easy and quick, and it is so tasty and not fishy at all. I think that this will become a standby in your house, I know it will in mine.

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Linguine with Shrimp Scampi
Recipe by Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Pictures by Caroline

Vegetable oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt plus 1 1/2 teaspoons
3/4 pound linguine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined (I used frozen pre-cooked shrimp)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves (I used dry parsley flakes and they worked fine; if using dry parsley use about 1/2-1 tablespoon dry flakes)
1/2 lemon, zest grated
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds (I omitted this)
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt (salt and oil in the water are always optional) and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.
2. Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. (If using pre-cooked shrimp, cook until just heated through). Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.
3. When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

-Caroline